The local is starting to wear off and it's starting to hurt a tiny bit so I am a little cranky. I had a cyst removed. Before they removed it I had to sign a form that said that I would pay for the procedure if the insurance refused to pay for it. "What?! I was under the impression that it had been pre-approved a month ago when I made the appointment. No wonder 75% of the country wants the public option" I grumbled. She said that the insurance usually pays if they biopsy it. So I think "OK, I get to see in a little specimen container what's been getting infected and bugging me for the last 5 years." So once they excised the "anchored" cyst they sent the little alien looking thing (fucker had it's own little blood vessels, ewwww) off to the lab. Hopefully the insurance will cover the procedure, the Dr.s fee, the lab fee, and the suture removal visit.
So, ya grossed out? I'm not done. At one point I look up and she's got some hose thing and I ask "What's that?" She says "It's for the smoke."
"Ennh?"
I guess the smell of cauterized human flesh is not a big hit, even around a medical office. There are 4 smells that get to me, cauterized infected human flesh, vomit, poop and the contents of a colostomy bag. Fortunately the smoke eater hose thingy worked.
I usually don't have problems with my insurance. There are three levels of care available to retired military dependents, which is what I am. The premium for the highest level of care costs peanuts compared to the out-of-pocket share of premiums paid by other people. I know this. I'm grateful for this, but the retirement pay for enlisted servicemen is shit, and the cost of living in this city is disgustingly high, so something good better come from it. Dental and optical are not covered, and the premium for dental was ridiculously high, so we went with the dental insurance offered by his job, and the current job allows us to pay for glasses. I dunno what we're going to do if he loses his job, we'd be eligible for section 8 vouchers, but the waiting list in most places in Southern California is 10 years or more. Rent here is 2/3 of his gross retirement, not the net, and this place ain't all that and a bag of chips, that's for sure. Never mind stuff like car maintenance, car insurance, renter's insurance, internet access, computers. That would become luxuries.
If he wasn't working, I would not have taken the risk that the insurance might not pay for the procedure that I had done today. A very minor problem, but one that has made me aware in a very personal way of just how screwed up our medical system is, and how important the public option is, even if the congresswhores don't get that.
update 6:10 PM 9/29/2009
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And the Senate Finance Committee rejects it
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