The Skeeter Daddle Diaries

Okay, so I got my 3^rd Covid booster, and yeah, I know, probably Bill Gates’ tracking devices too, but I’m willing to throw the dice, take my chances and see if I can keep from contracting Long Haul Covid in my advanced geezerhood.  Thought while I was at it, I’d take the flu shot too.  Being careful about money, if not nano-trackers, I googled up Medicare to see if they covered flu shots and yah, shure, u betcha, they did.  Except when I made an appointment at one of our local pharmacies, they said they couldn’t find my Medicare Advantage program that would cover it.  But … the nice man at the counter said since I’d made a reservation he’d discount the copay and once I got my correct card, they’d refund the money.

Maybe you know where this is going….  They’re NOT going to refund any money and my good friends at United Health, a nice woman who can speak English but not very well, told me they do not cover flu vaccinations.  What the &%@#?  Last year’s flu vaccine was covered, but by a different pharmacy.  You tell me….

What I think, other than feeling duped for 70 bucks, was how impossible it seems to navigate our best-in-the-world health care system.  This is enrollment time in case you missed getting three or four calls per day from potential future healthcare providers.  If I thought it would help, we’d change to one that offered flu shots … but of course they’d probably be the one that had a higher co-pay or hidden fees or worse premiums.  If I was a Philadelphia lawyer with a medical and pharmaceutical degree, one willing to read the terms of agreement of multiple providers, compare the apples and oranges with the melons and bananas, sure, I’d switch over every damn year just to see if I could get a preventive care vaccination for free.

With only so much time left of my Golden Years I thought maybe I could spend that research on something, oh, slightly more enjoyable and far less maddening.  Next year I’ll probably just take my chances on the flu.  If I come down with a case of it, maybe then I’ll read the fine prints of these world class health care providers while I’m recuperating.

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I keep hearing how what us South Enders want fom our health care is more choices. Me and the mizzus, both past Medicare age now, started shopping for supplemental insurance. If we wanted choices, whoo-ee, we got em!! Well , not so much in different companies offering competitive prices so much as the two companies offering plans with plenty of their choices.

Maybe you want Plan X, pays 80% of Medicare A’s deductible, 100% of Med B’s. For $50 more a month you can get 100% pay on A & B. Want to save $$$’s, go for Plan D, you pay $3200 out of pocket before D kicks in, maxes out at $50K or Death, why they call it Plan D, you will opt for death before bankruptcy. Plan Z you can get some nursing home care, but not on Plan Y. Out of country coverage? Some yes, some no. Want co-pay or Medicare D, check out plan C? Need dental or glasses, Plans X and G and maybe N, but see if it covers contacts, bifocals or Lasix.

The list goes on. And on. And on some more. If you got a month or so, download the prosepectus of 43 pages or so per plan. Price per month is pretty prominent, you won’t need bifocals, but try to compare those prices with the juggling options, you’ll need something for your vertigo, check if it’s covered on your Medicare D, the pharmaceutical part. And if you’re not like ma and me, you’re searching for the equivalent of Medicares A and B in those health plans, god help you.

Call me cynical but if I didn’t know better with all this accumulated Wisdom old age is supposed to accrue along with arthritis and prostate problems, I’d say the health care industry makes this purposely obfuscated, a labyrinth of impossible to calculate connections between the fees and options, throw the dice, pay the price, take two aspirin, hope you make it til morning….

So … do I want more options? I don’t know. It seems like that stupid beer ad for the most popular beer in America: More Taste, Less Filling. It doesn’t have any taste whatsoever and it’s less filling because it’s mostly water. Still costs plenty, that’s for sure. Health care: more options, less expensive? We’re all being sold a bottle of snake oil, just 25 different labels on the same bottle. Glad we got those choices, though! Well, maybe if you’re wealthy….

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