Crouton du jour no. 21 redux
Because I actually like this version of Toastie…
(circa August 2008)
Archive for December, 2009
Reading the fine print (part 2)
The person in HR who could switch my insurance over is not in today and won’t be in until January 4. A particularly unhelpful person in HR left a message for the helpful-but-unavailable person, who had been pretty clear that I could switch insurance, but only before January 1. So am I screwed? I won’t know until Monday.
Sleepless
I wish I could get some sleep like Aremid is getting right now. Thinking too much about my kidney predicament. I hate how I only have the luxury of at-home sleeplessness every-other-night. I can’t imagine a whole 2010 passing by in which I remain on dialysis. Yet it’s just as difficult to imagine that I’ll have a new kidney. And there about ten other variables I’d like to see change between now and the end of 2010. I’ve got my work cut out for myself.
Reading the fine print
I abruptly discovered last week that my health insurance plan does not cover the expenses of an unrelated donor.
The Duke transplant program tells donors that they are not responsible for the costs of the surgery. They say the recipients’ insurance is responsible. Except when it’s not, apparently (and ironically).
Duke Transplant:
The tests, the surgery, the hospital stay, and your return visit will not cost you directly. They are charged to the recipient’s insurance or Medicare.
My insurance:
The Plan does not cover any expenses related to the donation of organs, tissues, bone marrow or peripheral stem cells by live donors unless the donor is a living relative and the donor expenses were not covered under the donor’s health plan.
And the reason all of this is all suddenly acutely relevant…I’ve had a relative, who doesn’t fit the insurance policy’s definition of a relative, who has expressed interest in being a donor and may very well be a compatible donor.
Technicalities aside, it would seem that if the transplant team deems a donor’s kidney to be a likely match, that is all that should matter.
My nephrologist says that my insurance’s policy’s clause is “unconscionable”. For me, the discovery was a wicked punch to the gut. I allowed myself to think that perhaps my dialysis experience would be relatively brief, perhaps just a few months rather than 6-7 years. Following this policy, I’d need to not only find a willing and compatible donor, but I’d have to raise money for the surgery. When I was originally signed up for the transplant program, no one told me of relatives-only restriction. No one told my relative before my relative embarked on tests that weren’t covered.
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The loophole…
My employer offers another plan that does not seem to have the relative-only restriction for transplants. I am told that the insurance will cover the donor’s surgery. But I cannot get a 100% guarantee because I have to be a policyholder first.
Normally, one is allowed to change plans only during open enrollment in October or due to a qualifying event (starting job, marriage, new baby). An HR benefits specialist has told me I can make the switch as long as I do so before January 1.
Now, I got the semi-definitive word from the transplant financial specialist around 4PM today. (Again, I can’t be 100% certain that this will really work until I’m a policyholder of the other policy). By the time I called the HR specialist, she was gone for the day…and possibly until January 4, as that’s what her voicemail indicated.
So, I have to hope that, either the HR benefits specialist is in tomorrow, or that someone else in HR can perform the same magic.
And all of this anxiety because of some fine-print on my insurance policy that I hadn’t noticed.
Call this Exhibit #84923827 of an insurance company playing doctor to the detriment of the patient. Not sure current health reform efforts would even do anything about this. It’s not like I am entitled to an almost-free kidney transplant. Folks on Medicare are. Geez…thank goodness we’re not getting Medicare for all…that would be horrible…
I hate, hate, hate this movie
(500) Days of Summer
8/10 (objective rating)
1/10 (rating inversely proportional to how crappy the film made me feel)
No, I am not having a good time. I don’t even know how to.
This a crude rendering of a post written on my iPhone at 2:17am—Pacific Time. Yes, I’m 2400 miles from home. I have my reasons for not disclosing my travels. My point in writing now is to declare that upon my return to my dodgy life back in NC on Tuesday, the status quo will be obliterated. I must make changes. I’m not sure what these changes will be, but they must come to fruition. My life must cease to feel like it is spinning around a drain. I’m not sure what good this vey awkward public pronouncement will do.
I need all the baggage to make itself scarce. I need to rise up all the crapitude I feel so much of the time. I must.
No comments please on Facebook. I’m venting to the world, yes, but I’ve got to figure this all out on my own.
Ps–missing one dialysis session will not kill me
Franken pwns Lieberman
I believe this is my first-ever use of the term pwn. Younger folk speak up if I am using it improperly.
Healthcare Debate Roundup
Alright. I’m not in the mindset to write about this healthcare debate that’s turning into a debacle. I’ll leave it to two of my favorite political figures, Howard Dean and Al Franken.
This bill is no longer reform.
- Howard Dean (link to video)
We’re entitled to our own opinions. We’re not entitled to our own facts.
- Al Franken (link to video)
My filter of the world
I’ve got nothing, as far as anything to write about. I’m in a bit of blank mood. I’m filled with…resignation. I’ve got a birthday in a few days, and I’d rather not think about it. It feels like it’s been a waste of a year. But this is a common feeling for me. I won’t expound on this right now.
As for the photo, it’s one of many recent iPhone-taken photos, to which I applied a Mill Colour filter. Mill Colour is an iPhone app that uses techniques from The Mill, “an award-winning visual effects company”. I’ve never quite understood how photo effects work. I just know that I like the results this app provides. I’d probably have better photos if I had the 3GS, but I’ve just got the 3G.
One of these days, I’ll have some write-up of the iPhone apps I’ve liked. My iPhone has definitely been a source of enjoyment over the last few months. I just received some iTunes gift cards, so I’ll be looking for to adding some nifty apps in the next few days.
Hmm…this photo might just represent how I see the world. Most other people see it like this…
