subsidized...

Awhile ago, I think almost three years, I first felt a twinge or something resembling a consistent minor discomfort emanating from my upper-right arm. I didn't think much about it. I have twinges all the time. They likely occur wherever I have a muscle or ligament interact with a hinge or ball and socket. The therapist trained in detecting such things said it's because I have multiple layers of scar tissue in practically every joint. He wondered if I had played professional football at some time in my life. I said no. He said I should have. I would be physically at the same place but with more money for retirement and maybe some trophies. I said oh.

When my upper-right arm got annoyed enough to where I couldn't sleep on that side, or lift anything, or reach, or hold on to the dog leash, or have sex in the missionary position, it was decided I needed physical therapy to work the kink out. When they decided it was more than a kink, like a torn bicep, they then decided it was best that I stop doing the work I had done for 25 years. Since I bent pipe, light, and copper, I became quite bent at the notion my next economically relative ascension was possibly a career as a Wal-Mart greeter. In Ohio, Wal-Mart is the largest employer. They were the last swing state for George Dub. I don't live there anymore.

The State of Washington decided it was best I went on L&I (that's short for Labor and Industry workman's compensation) until it was proven I could return to work as... say, a Wal-Mart greeter. In the meantime, L&I would pay all of my upper-right arm associated medical expenses so the insurance company didn't have to. They also paid me enough money to buy expensive health care for times when I needed something else; like anti-depression and high blood pressure meds, or if I were to fall and break my other arm. L&I wouldn't pay for that but they would give me money to pay the insurance company for coverage just in case something occurred that wasn't upper-right arm related.

While the State of Washington was subsidising the insurance industry on my behalf, I was able to convince them that throwing me out into the work force without being retrained for something sustainable was a wee bit nasty. They agreed and put me on a two year program to decide what it was I was best to be retrained on. During the last third of the two year discovery program I was placed under surveillance without my retraining discoverer's knowledge. At the end of the surveillance period, the State of Washington decided I was not acting as a proper L&I participant should. Sitting at a bar drinking all day is considered okay in the way of acting like a proper L&I participant. I chose to play in the wine shop and mow the yard with my good arm. They now want me to repay everything they said they gave me back to when the surveillance program began.

I now have a lawyer. He gets 30% of everything he saves me from giving back to the State of Washington. So when this is all said and done, the State of Washington will have nicely subsidized the insurance industry and a lawyer of my choosing. In the meantime, I'm retraining myself in the art of retraining... something I have been trained to do.