Tuesday, October 22, 2013

What did you do today?


I took care--or tried to anyhow of some stuff for my mom. Medicare, prescription drug coverage, catastrophic insurance. The letter she got from CareFirst about how her drug coverage might be changing was just a form letter, and didn't really apply to her. Thanks, CareFirst.

I emailed my doctor about some stuff for myself. God, I LOVE how Kaiser has email and lets you view every record of every little thing electronically and how you don't have to call them on the phone.

But I did call Kaiser today--I called a couple of different Kaiser offices about my exploding premium (it doubled--okay, I exaggerate it only went up 96.6%) and to see if they could advise me on a different policy. The thing is that the two policies I'm considering are vastly different. Example: An ER visit  has a 30% co-pay under one plan and a $300 co-pay under another. Trouble is no one can tell me the basic charge for an ER visit is (or an x-ray, or a CT scan or anything else) so I can't compare a dollar amount to a percentage. Yeah, I know. First world problems. One of the people I talked to said they might have some sample rates for various procedures available sometime next year.

So, dear readers, should I spend $610 more per year on top of the $6,504 per year I will already be spending in premiums? If I do, my co-pay will go down from the 40% on my current plan to a mere 30%. Is it worth it?

But rejoice. I will not think of any of this tonight. I've decided to finally join the party and watch Breaking Bad. I'm on Season 1 Episode 7. It's waaaaay too gory for me, but I have to admit it's engrossing. I watch it on my iPad so I can use my hand to cover up the bloody stuff. But I'm fascinated by those do-every-possible-fucking-wrong-thing-out-of-desperation dramas. And let's just say that right now, I need some engrossing real bad.

I'm wondering what it would take to make me cook meth. Of course since the only element on the periodic table that I remember is H20 (you probably think I'm kidding, but I'm not--and I just Googled that and found out that water isn't on the Periodic Table. Hahaha. So there--I'm an idiot.) And I would rather do just about anything other than a sales job, so I'm probably pretty safe. Meth cooker/drug dealer will probably not appear on my resume.

But just for the record--I have, in the past, been driven to some pretty serious desperation.

4 comments:

Ms. Moon said...

I'd rather grow poppies and try to figure out how to make opium. Do you think that's a viable retirement option?
And for what it's worth, I think the 300 dollar for the ER co-pay is a far safer bet than the 30%.

Elizabeth said...

Hey, there. I swear that Breaking Bad totally took me through one of the most difficult periods of my life when I binged through four or five seasons in a matter of weeks. I could SO RELATE to breaking bad in general. Keep watching. It's dark but the characters are incredible, and the cinematography is breath-taking. As for your insurance woes, well, I can never get past my overwhelming resentment regarding anything to do with insurance companies and am so NOT a fount of advice regarding them.

Steph(anie) said...

I vote higher premiums. I love Kaiser email/web site too.

For the record, water contains 2 elements, so you remembered 2 - hydrogen and oxygen. :)

Val said...

Great, Z & I are rabid BB fans! I'm going to take my boy to ABQ so we can take the tour next month if the stars align...
Much more fun to discuss Walter White's transition into Heisenburg than fret about how my insurance has gone up steadily, approx 10% per quarter, & will be cancelled Dec 31. I have an appt to talk to insur guy on Halloween (SCARY!) to find out what my options may be... None will be appetizing w/my pre-existing condition.