God Bless Wisconsin

This world is new to me. I never planned on having children, really! I just wanted to have lots of nieces and nephews that I could have a fabulous relationship with and send them home. I had cats instead of children. I really just wanted things in my house that could basically take care of themselves.
So then I had Teena. And, in her first 2 years of life, I decided that if I could handle one, and I did seem to have a good grip on the one, that 2 could not be that hard. I added a pissed off 4 year old to my mix, with special needs. Suddenly so many of my choices in my own life became secondary to maintaining health insurance for my children. Their father is self employed and so this weight fell on me. I had the job that offered health insurance. Really expensive health insurance, but when just a consultation with one of Genea's specialists cost......get ready.... $556, I had to maintain my job. This was not a problem on one level because I really enjoyed my job. But the cost of that damn insurance kept rising and rising, and I had to pay the whole thing out of paychecks that became LOWER than the monthly premium and my world self-combusted.
Genea, because of her special needs status, qualified for medicare just in the past 2 months. Out of desperation, and not really understanding how it worked, I applied for our family to get state self-employed insurance, such as what farmers might use. I was reasonably sure Teena would get it, as a child, this state wants all of its children covered. Also, reasonably sure Husb and I would not get it and we would have to just wing it because with pre existing conditions buying it ourselves would be more than a new house. But, we all got it. The relief to me, I cannot even describe it. Like diving into a bloody mary with a xanax in it.