Surprise: I Have Diabetes!

Our post today is by Lesley …. please look for her blogs on Fridays

I work for a non-profit and I recently renegotiated my contract with the President of the Board and the chair of the committee with which I work. I work at a synagogue so these people are warm and friendly and want everyone to be happy and feel included. I sat down with them on Monday evening with a list of things I was asking for and a mini speech I had prepared about how much I like my job, how great the families are, and how appreciative I am to be a part of that community.

The President began the conversation immediately and spoke about the economy and the effect it will continue to have on the synagogue. To that end, not much would change about my contract. We spoke extensively about health insurance and how I keep pushing for the synagogue to set up a flexible spending account. I could set aside pre-taxed dollars to be used for things like prescriptions, glucose tablets, pump supplies, and even co-pays to doctors. It would be so helpful and useful to me. I plead my case and allowed him to respond.

He spoke about the administrative costs associated with setting up a fund like this and how most of the other employees wouldn’t opt for it, making it a waste of money. I just kept asking him to look into it and see if it was something that we could do. Then he said “Lesley, I look at you and I see a healthy and strong young woman with no medical expenses, very few medical bills and a bright future. You probably wouldn’t even spend enough to use all the money you set aside, and then you’d just lose the money. Why would someone like YOU even consider this kind of program?”

Man oh man – was this comical! He was being nice about it and just inquiring. I simply stated that in fact I could benefit from a program like this and I asked, again, if he could just look into it.

I had so many thoughts when I left that meeting! My first was how surprised I was. How could he not know that I have Diabetes? I check my blood sugar constantly, wear a pump and sometimes even talk about it with the families. He knows me fairly well and has been at fundraisers and other events with me. Has he not noticed these things? Then I sort of laughed at his naivete – how weird was it that he just assumed by looking at me that I had “no medical bills” and saw very few doctors?

My last emotion was slightly relieved and kind of proud of myself. I sometimes get self conscious that I talk too much about my Diabetes and am annoying about it. My friends assure me this isn’t true but I still try to be aware of how much I talk about it. The President has known me for five years and it sort of made me happy that he sees me as a healthy and normal young woman (well, the normal part is debatable…I think I’ve made that joke before on this blog…hmmm) who lives and works just like anyone. Sometimes I like being different and think its “cool,” for lack of a better word, to know so much about my body and Diabetes and to be hooked up to a machine (well, I probably think its cool like 10 minutes per month but that’s still something.) Most of the time, I just want to slide under the radar and go about my business, Diabetes or not.

The epilogue to the story is that I emailed him later this week to thank him for the meeting and to reiterate my interest into the specifics of our health insurance plan. I also added this:
“The issue of a flexible spending account and the rising cost of health insurance is especially important to me because I have Type I Diabetes. I wear an Insulin Pump at all times and have astronomical medical bills as a result. I am healthy and take very good care of myself despite how difficult it is, but being healthy as a Diabetic comes at a cost, which is why these are issues that keep coming up.”
He responded that they were looking into the flexible spending account and would try to set it up. I guess that’s better than nothing!!