I like getting love letters from my health insurance company. They catch me off guard, but it’s nice to know someone is looking out for me. A few weeks ago I got a letter asking about all of my other insurance carriers after I made a rather large claim. They said they wanted to make sure I could “maximize my coverage.” As they said, “We’re constantly looking for ways to deliver high quality, affordable care to our valued customers.” Now isn’t that sweet? I could just reach out and give ‘em a great big hug. I just can’t figure out [...]
Health Care
My Medical Riff
Sit back and enjoy a good old fashioned rant, boys and girls. Don’t sit too close though. There could be some spittle involved – unintentional, of course. I’m not going to review my medical history with you now. You’ve either been reading along and know it already, or you haven’t. Maybe you’ll get the basic idea – or not. I’m really not sorry. The other day I hit a wall. I wasn’t walking or driving so no physical harm done, though after paragraph two maybe you figure I got it coming. It was the metaphorical wall, the one you hit [...]
One fine whine
One of the advantages of US style health care is being able to obtain services without having to wait until the sun goes supernova (which could be a really long time, since our sun doesn’t have enough mass to go it alone). – common wisdom in the US. When I say common wisdom (an oxymoron in the US) I’m refering to the part about waiting for healthcare, not the part about the sun. Most Americans probably don’t know the sun is a star just like the other pretty lights in the night sky. My doctor wants me to see a [...]
Six months of billing futility, revisited
Something about that call isn’t sitting right with me. I finally got through to my insurance company, only to be told the problem: “we’re getting bills.” Now, as some poor shmuck with little more than a family and a mailbox, this sounds like something perfectly resonable to say… if it was born of my lips. As my insurance company – whose sole purpose in the universe is to disburse healthcare dollars for – drum roll please – healthcare, this sounded fishy. Hold onto your skull caps frends, I’m not done yet. You see, I wasn’t exactly speaking to my health [...]
It’s the little surprises that make all the difference
“Ah… Mr Kauffman? Your insurance company hasn’t paid us since your August visit. You might want to call them.” That was the office staff at one of my many doctors’ offices. We’re pretty tight, seeing as how I’ve been there a lot since August. I might want to call them? Does this imply I might not want to call them… that I might just want to pay the bill myself and not go through the hassle? Or is it possible they might want me to just pay the bill, so they won’t have to go through the hassle? If you [...]
Fickle Facebook friends
Note: I wrote this months ago, so the time references are way off (like someone’s concerned about timeliness… here of all places). I was a social networking snob. At one time I had a blog, a web site, and all of it ran on a web server under my desk. I had Internet cred, and Facebook was beneath me. Like everyone else, I didn’t get Twitter. About a year ago I was talked into Facebook at an Obama event in Dunedin. “We’ll post all of our pictures there,” they said. “Facebook is cool. You’ll be hooked.” So I signed up. [...]
Discharged
I’m not sure how I feel about it, but the hospital is making tentative plans to discharge my mother. This should be good news, right? The thing is, she’s not being released to go home – she’s not well enough. Instead, they’re making arrangements for her to be placed in an assisted living facility. If my life had a soundtrack, something foreboding would be playing right now. You may recall (or not, she’s not your mother) it was an incident at an ALF that precipitated her extended stay at the state hospital. My fear is this fits the national trend. [...]
Back on the healthcare rant
I love it when folks say: “I want my doctor making treatment decisions, not the government,” as if an insurance company never set treatment terms. I loved it even more when our insurance company said they wouldn’t cover treatment for Beth’s Aspergers. Why? “Because Florida Law only requires us to cover treatment for Aspergers if it’s diagnosed before a child turns eight.” Translation: “We wouldn’t cover you losers at all if it weren’t for those meddling, socialist pigs in government.” If you don’t like your insurance, you can just switch, right? I mean, that’s the beauty of the free market. [...]
It’s all my fault
You don’t want to read this post. Why am I writing it then?Therapy.I have a theory for why I’ve been feeling down lately, and the title to this post is a strong clue. Since it’s apparent no one else is ever at fault for things that go wrong, the logical conclusion is it must be my fault. When everything is your fault and you accept responsibility – even if it’s just a small part of your subconscience doing the accepting – it’s really easy to hate yourself.Take one guess where this is leading. Did you guess something related to healthcare [...]
Stray comment
I was having a good day. Everything was fine until I heard one stray comment. Do you have days like this? Can one or two sentences ruin it for you? I wish I could say I have the self assurance to shrug off what other people think and say, but it’s not me. Not at all. It sticks with me. It burrows and churns through my mind, infecting everything that follows. “I don’t get it. This guy supposedly can’t work because he’s got bipolar disorder? What kind of bullshit is that?” This was an opportunity to intervene. I could have [...]
