Dear Governor Kaine,
I would love to be able to send an additional donation to assist your run for the US Senate. I think the policies put forth by all the Republican candidates really suck.
Unfortunately, I am not able to contribute as all but $200 of my total income each month goes to pay bills. There is the usual rent and utilities, and medical bills to be paid. I hate paying the medical bills, but I have little to say in the matter. Doctors and hospitals have better legal representation than I do and more importantly better rights and privilege. So I pay and use the remaining $200 to buy food.
A bit more than a year ago, my mammogram showed a mass and caused a small cancer scare. My Nurse Practitioner referred me to a surgeon for a confirming biopsy. She made the appointment and sent both my pictures and medical records to him. Shortly after I arrived in his office, that doctor's nurse invited me into an exam room where she told me the doctor would not be performing a biopsy on me. She told me that he did not do biopsies on women who had taken hormone replacement therapy. When I mentioned that most postmenopausal women had used some form of hormone therapy, she said he would not do a biopsy on a woman who had saline breast implants. When I questioned her about why he would exclude such women, she told me the doctor would not see me because my medical records showed I was a post-surgical transsexual and he did not want to treat a Transgendered patient. I asked if the doctor could refer me to another surgeon as waiting for this one had already used up six weeks and I worried my suspected breast lump might be growing. She said he would not refer me because he had religious objections to having me as a patient.
I left his office and called my Nurse Practitioner asking for another referral. In a few hours her staff called me back with another appointment with another surgeon. While I waited the next four weeks for this appointment, I received a bill for the first surgeons consultation time. When I called to express my dismay at being billed for a service I had been refused, I was told that I owed the amount because I had seen his nurse and consulted with her.
I submitted the bill to my employer's insurance company. They wrote back saying surgical procedures could not be paid in my case because the medical insurance coverage did not cover procedures for transsexuals. They suggested I send the bill to the net insurance company as my employer, Kmart was switching providers after the first of the year.
When I arrived for the appointment with the new surgeon, his office manager invited me into her office. She told me the doctor had looked at my medical file that day and had decided not to see me. She let me know that he refused to treat transsexual women because he believed we were inherently evil. She expressed her sympathy, but said there was nothing she could do. At least, I never received a bill from her or the doctor.
Now three months after the first finding of a lump and having it confirmed by a mammogram, I still had not had a biopsy. My Nurse Practitioner found two additional lumps at my next appointment with her and she scheduled a biopsy at the University of Virginia Women's Oncology Center. Six months after finding the first lump, I began treatment for clear cell carcinoma. It cost a lot more than it should have because of lymph node involvements that had been aggravated waiting so long for a biopsy.
When I presented my bills to the new Kmart insurer, they told me I was not covered by them at all. They said my cancer was a result of my preexisting transsexualism and the law did not require them to pay anything.
Kmart asked me to accept a part-time position or face termination because I had taken medical leave that was not covered by their insurer. They said my leave amounted to excessive personal leave time.
I retired instead. I now draw a reduced Social Security benefit for retiring at 63 instead of at 66 years old. I am still buying groceries and paying past due bills.
Bear with me and I will help your campaign later this year.
Dawn Storrud
I would love to be able to send an additional donation to assist your run for the US Senate. I think the policies put forth by all the Republican candidates really suck.
Unfortunately, I am not able to contribute as all but $200 of my total income each month goes to pay bills. There is the usual rent and utilities, and medical bills to be paid. I hate paying the medical bills, but I have little to say in the matter. Doctors and hospitals have better legal representation than I do and more importantly better rights and privilege. So I pay and use the remaining $200 to buy food.
A bit more than a year ago, my mammogram showed a mass and caused a small cancer scare. My Nurse Practitioner referred me to a surgeon for a confirming biopsy. She made the appointment and sent both my pictures and medical records to him. Shortly after I arrived in his office, that doctor's nurse invited me into an exam room where she told me the doctor would not be performing a biopsy on me. She told me that he did not do biopsies on women who had taken hormone replacement therapy. When I mentioned that most postmenopausal women had used some form of hormone therapy, she said he would not do a biopsy on a woman who had saline breast implants. When I questioned her about why he would exclude such women, she told me the doctor would not see me because my medical records showed I was a post-surgical transsexual and he did not want to treat a Transgendered patient. I asked if the doctor could refer me to another surgeon as waiting for this one had already used up six weeks and I worried my suspected breast lump might be growing. She said he would not refer me because he had religious objections to having me as a patient.
I left his office and called my Nurse Practitioner asking for another referral. In a few hours her staff called me back with another appointment with another surgeon. While I waited the next four weeks for this appointment, I received a bill for the first surgeons consultation time. When I called to express my dismay at being billed for a service I had been refused, I was told that I owed the amount because I had seen his nurse and consulted with her.
I submitted the bill to my employer's insurance company. They wrote back saying surgical procedures could not be paid in my case because the medical insurance coverage did not cover procedures for transsexuals. They suggested I send the bill to the net insurance company as my employer, Kmart was switching providers after the first of the year.
When I arrived for the appointment with the new surgeon, his office manager invited me into her office. She told me the doctor had looked at my medical file that day and had decided not to see me. She let me know that he refused to treat transsexual women because he believed we were inherently evil. She expressed her sympathy, but said there was nothing she could do. At least, I never received a bill from her or the doctor.
Now three months after the first finding of a lump and having it confirmed by a mammogram, I still had not had a biopsy. My Nurse Practitioner found two additional lumps at my next appointment with her and she scheduled a biopsy at the University of Virginia Women's Oncology Center. Six months after finding the first lump, I began treatment for clear cell carcinoma. It cost a lot more than it should have because of lymph node involvements that had been aggravated waiting so long for a biopsy.
When I presented my bills to the new Kmart insurer, they told me I was not covered by them at all. They said my cancer was a result of my preexisting transsexualism and the law did not require them to pay anything.
Kmart asked me to accept a part-time position or face termination because I had taken medical leave that was not covered by their insurer. They said my leave amounted to excessive personal leave time.
I retired instead. I now draw a reduced Social Security benefit for retiring at 63 instead of at 66 years old. I am still buying groceries and paying past due bills.
Bear with me and I will help your campaign later this year.
Dawn Storrud
