The last few days work.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
out and about
On March 26 we got 6 inches of snow, Jill was out of town so I did my second walk in the green belt. Did not go far or fast, but it was good to get out see just how mobile I can be.
Friday, March 27, 2009
The Final Bill (more or less) Rant.
Well, I was doing okay with the doctor charging me $5500 dollars an hour for an hour and half operation, but today I got the hospital bill and I am frankly disgusted and outraged. Come on, $8000 dollars for a metal rod and 6 screws! $7600 for anesthesia,
$2300 for drugs and pharmacy which I barely used! They say the problem is the insurance companies, I disagree, it is the providers, and while the insurance companies may be the enablers of this insanely cost bloated medical system, to me it feels like an ethical (or lack there of) decision on the part of those providing the services to charge these enormously inflated fees. Well, if I don't qualify for the financial support this may be the straw, or more like the elephant, that breaks my financial back. With our house upside down, me not getting any traction on my credit card debt and now this I see little reason to hold on anymore and believe I will somehow pull a rabbit out of my magic hat and start moving forward. Add to that the recession is killing both my art career and my long established carpentry business. I am just flummoxed by how one group of people taking care of our essential medical needs charge amounts that we by doing our work that make their world possible can't pay them for their services. It has been said before, but something is terribly wrong with the medical system. I heard one story where a bicyclist crashed her bike in the middle of nowhere, an innocuous not that out of the ordinary kind of activity. She broke her pelvis and had to be medi-vaced out with a helicopter. A reasonable fee for a couple of hours work? $3,000? $5,000 maybe. No, $38,000 just to get her to the hospital. What was the profit margin on that I wonder? So at this point this broken leg cost $35,084.00. The good news is if I had been paying health insurance for the past 30 years, (since Medi-cal was gutted by Reagan) I am still ahead. That would have cost me $75,000.00 at least, and I still would have with a $10.000 dollar deductible, be owing $25,000. Maybe it is time to pack it in move to a civilized country?
$2300 for drugs and pharmacy which I barely used! They say the problem is the insurance companies, I disagree, it is the providers, and while the insurance companies may be the enablers of this insanely cost bloated medical system, to me it feels like an ethical (or lack there of) decision on the part of those providing the services to charge these enormously inflated fees. Well, if I don't qualify for the financial support this may be the straw, or more like the elephant, that breaks my financial back. With our house upside down, me not getting any traction on my credit card debt and now this I see little reason to hold on anymore and believe I will somehow pull a rabbit out of my magic hat and start moving forward. Add to that the recession is killing both my art career and my long established carpentry business. I am just flummoxed by how one group of people taking care of our essential medical needs charge amounts that we by doing our work that make their world possible can't pay them for their services. It has been said before, but something is terribly wrong with the medical system. I heard one story where a bicyclist crashed her bike in the middle of nowhere, an innocuous not that out of the ordinary kind of activity. She broke her pelvis and had to be medi-vaced out with a helicopter. A reasonable fee for a couple of hours work? $3,000? $5,000 maybe. No, $38,000 just to get her to the hospital. What was the profit margin on that I wonder? So at this point this broken leg cost $35,084.00. The good news is if I had been paying health insurance for the past 30 years, (since Medi-cal was gutted by Reagan) I am still ahead. That would have cost me $75,000.00 at least, and I still would have with a $10.000 dollar deductible, be owing $25,000. Maybe it is time to pack it in move to a civilized country?
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Introspection with Hardware
Went to the doctors today. Looks like in two weeks I will be taking up swimming to work on keeping my muscles up and my joints loose. The Hardware looks cool, they gave me the jpg files that they now use. we don't have the hospital's bill yet but this little bit of invisible artwork cost about $9,500 so far. We were introduced to yet another source for covering the cost. Next week I will be making apointments to get these applications in. Wish me luck!
Monday, March 23, 2009
Where I want to go:
This begs the question: How can I speed up the healing of my bone? This was sent to me by James, thanks.
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