06/18/2026
Do y’all ever feel like you live in a simulation because sometimes things happened that are just so perfectly, customizably (not a word, but it is now) impeccably timed and designed to specifically p**s you off and turn up the dial on your exact earth school experience?
Because that’s how I’ve felt this week… as Elon Musk became the world’s first trillionaire.
The day I read that news, two people canceled their automatic monthly donations to our shelters. And I get it - we’re all having to tighten our purse strings these days. There are zero hard feelings when people have to do that. Again, I tooootally get it.
I had to cancel my health insurance this year. It was insurance I didn’t actually want, but the board forced me to get a few years ago because they thought it was important for us not just to take care of other people but NWF as well.
I was outvoted and begrudgingly signed up for the cheapest plan I could find. When I originally purchased it off marketplace, it was $48 a month. You can guess the quality of said plan.
Prior to that, I had been uninsured for 12 years, so not a lot changed when I finally had it honestly. I still did cash pay if I had to go to the doctor, because I knew it covered virtually nothing and wasn’t even worth the hassle. In other words, it was insurance I never actually used.
In 2026, it went up to $109.
I didn’t love that, but it still seemed reasonable.
Then, this year, it shot up to $671 a month.
SIX HUNDRED AND SEVENTY ONE AMERICAN DOLLARS.
For an HMO that literally covered nothing.
It went up 600%. That’s insane, right?
The good news is, I’m relatively healthy. I take vitamins and if anything major happens my plan is just, well, Mexico, I guess. So, canceling it at that exorbitant rate was a no brainer.
But then this week I got tonsillitis. And y’all, it has been miiiiiiserable. At first, I tried to Tony Robbin’s myself into believing it was just allergies. “Mind over matter, Destiny… healthy body… healthy cells… it’s all in your head… you’re fine.” But I wasn’t, so I finally bit the bullet and went to an urgent care. I had to drop $180 just to get access to antibiotics (which, honestly, is the most frustrating part IMO, because how many people can’t even afford THAT, and they’re just having to suffer through stuff like this), but I was desperate, and privileged enough to have a credit card to put it on.
And as I laid in bed, unable to move as I vacillated between chills and burning up with fever, all I could do was scroll on Facebook and read about that POS who helped cut funding to so many good aid programs globally that were serving as safety nets for so many vulnerable people, and how he just became the richest person in the world.
And then three more people canceled their monthly donations to our shelters.
Which, again, I totally understand, because it’s becoming super impossible to afford to survive these days.
Anyway, today I was finally able to leave the house for the first time. I went to the grocery store to buy a new toothbrush (per my urgent care drs recommendation), and you know what I saw? Something that might seem sorta silly to most people (or maybe not?), but almost all of the body washes next to the toothbrushes were over $10.
Like, what?
These things used to be like five bucks. The big family size one I used to get for $8 is now $14.
$14. For a bottle of body wash.
I’m just so confused…
How is this okay? When did we get priced out of soap?
Maybe this is just my post-fried fever brain talking, but how is anyone living right now? Are you all doctors? Are y’all in a different simulation than me? Or am I just really bad at life?
And the craziest thing is, all we hear about is how America is sooooo great. Um, okay… is the great in the room with us now? Because I seriously can’t tell if we’re all being gaslight by our government or if I am just seriously dumb and not getting something that everyone else somehow understands…
A few months ago I met a guy who’d moved to Germany ten years ago to be with his girlfriend. He’d been there less than 6 months when he suddenly needed emergency knee surgery. He assumed he’d have to pay through the nose because he hadn’t been putting into the system for long at all, and he was shocked when his surgery ended up being free. He said they actually invest in their citizens.
I don’t want to have to learn German, y’all. 😩 But he also said they don’t evict people over there, and that they have really good programs to help people work. And if they truly cannot work, then there are programs set up to make sure that at least their basic needs are met so they can survive.
And then there’s Mexico…
As y’all know, one of our littlest residents is making weekly visits to emergency room in Juárez right now. And while we still have to pay for her epilepsy meds and a few other supplies, her G-tube surgery was completely covered because even they have programs for vulnerable populations who cannot afford care.
And I don’t know if y’all are like me in the early aughts, wherein I was surrounded by a ton of conservatives brainwashing me about how great America was, and how awful universal healthcare is… but I’m just not seeing that anymore. Over the last decade I’ve been blessed to meet people from other countries who genuinely feel valued by their governments. They invest in the health, well-being, and quality of life of their people… and they’re not turning our trillionaires.
And I’m over here… well, debating soap for my family. Texting doctor friends in an attempt to cobble together medical care. Asking my neighbors if they have any left over antibiotics. And planning trips to Mexico for a tonsillectomy. Is this normal? Are we all doing this or am I just bad at life?
Genuinely asking.
Because while we have people on the “prolife” side telling us to have children we can’t afford, I can barely afford myself right now.
TL;DR, could somebody please talk to whomever is in charge and get me switched into a better simulation? Kthxbai.
/endrant
{Image Description: $60 worth of groceries, and it’s only like 9 items in the top part of the cart where toddlers sit, not even the main buggy… that’s it.} 🤨
