WM, I can understand where you are coming from. I was diagnosed with hep C in '93 when I was working in a medical office as a transcriptionist (no patient contact), but when I mentioned it to a couple of nurse friends, they visibly shrunk back...as though they could catch it from me. I also told the Nursing Director, who is the only one who might have access to my health insurance info. All I can tell you is that it didn't affect my insurance or job--although I had to quit 2 yrs. later as the fatigue got so bad I could only work P/T and they wanted me F/T. I continued to work P/T until I was finally approved for SSD (due to hip replacements and revisions, plus the hep C) in '05.
So you are saying that you just recently contracted hep C? I know for a fact that I contracted it in '68 or '69, though I didn't experience any symptoms until '91 when I began to feel enormous fatigue. You likely wouldn't be able to work if you do treatment now. Also, there is a new treatment which adds a 3rd drug (a protease inhibitor) which is showing a 75% success rate in trial. It should be available by summer of 2011. Once you are able to retire, get treatment! The danger is that the hep C can cause cirrhosis and liver cancer (as it did in my case...I was only on interferon briefly as it caused a severe drop in my white cell count.
Good luck. I hope you will continue to post here and keep us updated.
Hugs,
Connie