The details on the health insurance are beyond my capacity to read unless I take a migraine pill, and I don't want to.

Me, I pay ~$500/month for my COBRA stuff, and, well, I take >$2000 in meds/month so it's a no-brainer. Unless something shifts drastically, medical insurance will always be useful for me--it's not a gamble like car insurance can be.

Of course, I made a pointless visit to a doctor today that I absolutely wouldn't have if I didn't have insurance. I called my GP to ask if I could have a new splint, since I'd been straightening my finger out by myself. He said hell-no-see-this-specialist, and when I went to make the appointment with the specialist they couldn't see me for three weeks so they suggested a sports medicine orthopedic guy.

Have you ever had an appointment where it feels like the doctor isn't making eye contact with you, even conversational eye contact? I couldn't get a me-specific answer out of him, not to do with how I'd handled the injury until now, not to do with how I use the finger, and most amazingly, not to do with my medical history--he compared the finger on one hand with the corresponding finger on the other to determine end state, despite me telling him there was no correlation.

So now I have a piece of foam-lined metal taped loosely to the finger which has absolutely no impact on keeping the finger straight (I can easily bend the finger 90° in it), and directions to engage the afore-mentioned specialist and an occupational therapist.

It mightn't be the doctor's job to save me from myself, but the least he could do is treat me.

I'm thinking I'm back to having my friend straighten it, and I'll find a new splint on my own.

Here's the cite I was thinking of a couple posts back:

Worse news for George W. Bush: He won't be talking much about the one issue voters want to hear discussed. The White House has been saying that Bush's speech will focus on domestic issues. According to the Post/ABC News poll, 48 percent of Americans say the war in Iraq is the issue they want Bush and Congress to be dealing with this year -- and "no other issue rises out of single digits."

Monday was not the most depressing day this year. Today is.

But....but....today is National Pie Day!

But....but....today is National Pie Day!

And yet I have no pie. See what I mean?

::sends shrift a pie::

Pie day will always be sad because not everyone will have pie. It's bittersweet that way.

I currently pay $420/mth for a "non group" plan with an HMO (which my raise pretty much covered). It's a good HMO and I've had fantastic coverage. However, I'm also in the highest plan of co payments ($50/$30/$15), which means my current prescribed meds cost me $110/mth (which is one reason I want to go off one, it's the most expensive and would bring my co pays down to $60/mth). The last time I got an antibiotic I paid out of pocket because it was $12 and my co pay would be $15.

Holy Dinah! To me that's crazy expensive.

Hugs universal health care even tighter. Smaller hugs to my supplemental insurance through work.

Have you ever had an appointment where it feels like the doctor isn't making eye contact with you, even conversational eye contact?

I've had that experience, at an after hours clinic. After barely listening to me and barely looking at the chart that had ALLERGY: PENICILLIN written in red the doctor said something to the effect of "I'll prescribe pencillin and we'll see how you do." I remember the blank look he gave me as I pointed out I was allergic.

As for President Shrub. He has to talk about domestic issues because what else is he going to say? "We'll have a surge in the summer, but that's not an escalation." And repeat "9/11 Bin Laden" over and over like some bad techno mix?

My health plan is good in that I have $0 co-pay, $750 deductible (always met, as you can imagine) and $500 health reimbursement account. Oh, and an out-of-pocket maximum that's pretty low too, something I always meet before the end of the year.

My old vision plan was great, but I'm off it now since I'm unemployed and have very little need for opticians. The dental plan I'm still on, just because, is okay (and now that I think of it, is part of the ~$500 I mentioned above)--I end up paying $14/cleaning out of pocket.

I remember the blank look he gave me as I pointed out I was allergic.

The blank look really gets me. I guess if they were in any way contrite it might read like accepting they'd done something careless or sub par, but honestly. Allergy to penicillin? So sorry to be keeping you awake, doc.

"We'll have a surge in the summer, but that's not an escalation."

I think they're trying to get away from "surge" and moving toward "augmentation." Both of which have very porny associations.