Seanan McGuire (seanan_mcguire) wrote,
Seanan McGuire
seanan_mcguire
  • Mood: annoyed
  • Music: Kate and GP playing Rock Band.

Dear Uncle Sam: I hate you, too.

So here's the basic thing: I grew up below the United States poverty line. Way, way below the poverty line. "I really thought yellow boxes meant it was food" and "let's have government cheese sandwiches" levels of below the poverty line. One thing you don't get when you're below the poverty line in America? Dental care. Combine this with a dental phobia (brought on by the rare occasions when I actually saw a dentist, as the dentists assigned the charity cases were often shouty) and an adulthood spent largely temping, and, well. Nothing good can come of this.

Because I am a working author with a day job and good dental insurance for the first time in my adult life, I thought "hey, I'm finally in the position to actually pay to have all the necessary work done." Not "the cosmetic work." The "chewing is fun and awesome and I enjoy being able to do it" work. I found a dentist, I organized my finances as responsibly as I could so that I would be able to pay for everything...

...I got slapped upside the head with self-employment taxes, which, as anyone who's ever looked at the forms can tell you, is obscene. They don't adjust for your situation, either. There's no box to check for "I need lots of medical work, I am employed by a non-profit, and I live in one of the highest cost-of-living regions of the country, so please, don't assume I can afford what you're asking me for." If you make ten dollars income that can be hit with the self-employment taxes, the government wants between three and five dollars of that, even if you're not going to get any more money that year.

Why am I bitching about this now? Because I finally got my full estimate for the rest of my dental work. And that, combined with my final quarterly tax payment for the 2009 tax year, will basically kill my savings account, which I have worked so very hard to build. A lot of my expenses for the year have been deductible—including a lot of my medical, given the level of extensive that it's achieved—but the bills still have to be paid now. If it weren't for the sheer scope of the taxes I've had to pay this year, I'd be fine. Instead? I'm crazy irritated.

Screw you, too, Uncle Sam.
Tags: cranky blonde is cranky, medical fu, state of the blonde
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  • 44 comments

kyburg

October 19 2009, 17:49:30 UTC 7 years ago

Ask Carol Burnett (or read her book) about dental care when you're a child living below the poverty line. The one experience she's willing to talk about? Seven fillings without novocaine, one sitting. She refers to having a near phobia about not brushing her teeth faithfully, attributable to this. (...you provoke the strangest pulls on my memory banks, hon....)

We may have been four kids with a single Mom who worked nights, but Mom had gone through her life without proper vision OR dental care, and woe if that was going to happen on her watch.

Mom turned into the biggest wheeler-dealer and negotiator when it came to medical care I ever saw. That's what friends and coworkers were for! (And the fact she was always considerate, grateful and never wasted a thing didn't hurt, either.)

My dental care was provided by a dentist who kept Arabian horses on the same property as his dental offices. Yes, I went out and petted ponies while I waited my turn for fillings and the like.

I've bought dental insurance as presents - my privilege is aghast to see people going without.

(And I understand Delaware is the state to incorporate in. Ask that wonderful accountant.)