I don’t normally ask for donations, but here’s the scoop:
My spouse is effectively (but not legally) disabled and I am one of two income sources in the household, the other being our roommate. Our roommate is on a fixed income as he is collecting workman’s compensation for an injury that he sustained approximately two years ago.
I was laid off from my job at the end of November 2007. I quickly found another job at the beginning of December, but I am working here currently as a contractor. The medical benefits from the contracting agency aren’t worth speaking about– the prescription coverage is limited to $50 a month, for example.
Now, bear in mind that I have also been maintaining insurance not just for myself, but also for my spouse. Without insurance, our prescription costs alone are approximately $800 a month. That’s not including my migraine medication which would add another $600 a month (it’s about $30/pill). It’s also not including the two ER visits my spouse had for severe migraines.
It took some time for my former company to process my severance package, and my COBRA information was not sent until well after the severance came through. (Which is not what should have happend, I should have gotten the COBRA paperwork in December, not February.)
We need to get onto COBRA to cover the ER visits and reimburse us for the majority of the prescription costs we’ve been shouldering. Unfortunately, I need to come up with $2,500 and get it to the COBRA company by the end of the month to get coverage back. If I don’t meet that deadline, then I will not be able to get COBRA after the fact. I don’t want people to think that I’m scamming, so if requested, I will even post a copy of the COBRA bill, redacted to protect our privacy.
I don’t have the money available to me. I’m barely managing to keep things afloat at the moment, and I’ve been overdrafting my account the past few months and dealing with the overdraft fees ($35 a pop, thanks Bank of America…). I can probably borrow some money from friends, my in-laws, but that’s a lot of money to ask for. I’m asking for donations to spread the cost out amongst other people.
I would love to say that I’ll be able to take some of the money COBRA will reimburse me and pay people who donate back. Realistically, I don’t see that happening, and I want that noted up-front. Once I pay that bill, I’ll have probably 30-60 days before I get coverage re-instated. During which time, I’ll still be paying out of pocket. During which I’ll still be scrambling, miscalculating, and overdrafting. I’ll have to pay $200 for the ER visits (which is a lot better than the $2700 we’re estimating for both visits), and I won’t get 100% of the prescription cost back, either.
There’s two ways I can pay people back. One is with my story, which I will share with you all, chapter by chapter, until it’s complete. When it’s done, I may take it down from the site to shop it around. If I do so, I’ll PDF a copy and email it to all registered users. Or, if there’s enough interest, then I might just Lulu it and go that route.
The other way is that I offer cheap web hosting. I’m very familiar with WordPress and phpBB (2.x, I’m still learning my way around 3.x), and I can get one of those sites set up for you in no time at all. My standard rates for most sites are $5/mo or $50/year (if you pay up-front), and $10/domain if you want me to handle domain registration. There is also a $10 set-up fee to get things going. I’ll provide support to you for wordpress plugins, etc., as I have the time to do so. If you want further details or want to arrange this, leave a comment below with your email address and I’ll get in touch. (I’m still setting up my aerynmorgan.com domain so the email isn’t up and running just yet.)
Once I get hired on as a permanent employee at the company I’m working for, things will be much better. I’ll still need COBRA to cover the past expenses, but then I’ll be able to get the other bills back on track (such as the gas and electric bills that are piling up). In the summer we’re also looking at moving into a rented house with another roommate so we can split costs even more, and expand the amount of room we have available– both to us, and to our pets.
Your help will be invaluable in getting us safely (and sanely) there.
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March 14th, 2008 at 10:40 am
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