As the Blood Boils

The Pony and I were shot today. No, not dog bit. Stab stab, not woof woof.

I do believe the irony concept Val has been thinking she had mastered decided to bite her on the butt. Chomp chomp. Not stab stab.

Our school offered flu shots to the faculty again this year. Having partaken in years past, I decided that it was not for me. Actually, I decided that last year, and I'm never looking back. Here's the deal. The school brings in people to shoot us. For free. The last year I partook, I discovered it was the people at CeilingReds, a local yet national pharmacy, who came to shoot us. Nothing wrong with that. I would have gone there to the store and gotten it for myself, except they didn't shoot people except during school hours on school days.

So...the drill was for us to fill out paperwork, including our insurance information. It didn't cost us anything, because the insurance wanted us to be shot so they could save money taking care of us. We had to fill out the form and turn it in to the office the day before. When I left my class attended by a staff member and went to pick up my receipt on the shooting day, I saw that my flu shot had been processed the day before, at a CeilingReds a couple of towns over, at 3:30 p.m.

What if I was sick on shot day? If I couldn't safely take my flu shot as planned? Then later, when I was healthy, and went to a doctor for a flu shot, the insurance refused to eat that shot fee again because they had a record that I had ALREADY HAD THE SHOT? Yeah. A remote possibility, but not outside the realm of calamities that plague Val. So...I decided I would not go that route again.

Which brings us to NearMax, my current pharmacy, where The Pony got his flu shot last year with no ill results. They give them every weekday, until 6:00 p.m. We got caught up at school later than I expected, and didn't get to NearMax until 4:50. I filled out a one-page form for each of us. Then we waited. I could have gotten shot faster at school. It only took three minutes for The Pony last year. But today, we waited. And waited. People came in and sat down until their prescriptions were done, after being told they had a 20-minute wait, and still left before we were shot. If not for the fact that this is probably the best window for my health, between the last plague that I caught from the pupils until the next plague that I catch from the pupils...I would have left. Unless NearMax had already processed the flu shot through my insurance.

Here's a galling incident that we observed while waiting. A working man in jeans and a flannel shirt came in, no spring chicken, maybe early 40s, walking with a slight limp. He picked up his prescription, and the clerk said, "That will be $109. Is that all right?" Working Man wasn't so sure. It seemed high to him. But he hadn't had that prescription before. It was not a narcotic, because he didn't have to show his ID. But he asked if Clerk could check on it for him. He must have waited 15 minutes, only to be told that his prescription HAD been run through his insurance, and his part was $109. Without the insurance, it would have been $400. That's criminal! Highway robbery! But not as much of a felony as the next incident.

A lady had been waiting for her meds. She got a flu shot while she waited. Just as well that she still had some waiting to do, because all the signs recommended that shot people hang around for 15 or 20 minutes to make sure they didn't croak. Although not in so many words. And when it was time for her to pick up her meds, they were put on the counter in a white sack as big as a grocery bag. Paper. Not plastic. AND the clerk told her, "No charge."

Is your blood boiling yet? How could that woman get a large economy sack of drugs for NOTHING, while the Working Man had to pay $109 for one prescription? I don't think she was destitute. She was well-dressed. Well-spoken. Maybe a couple of years older than me. She had a husband who waited with her for a while, and then left in their car to get something to eat. I know one of her drugs was Lyrica, because she asked if it was a narcotic, and was told no, but it was still in a class that needed ID to pick it up.

Handbaskets! Get your handbaskets at Val's proposed handbasket factory! And don't worry about Val. She and her two insurances made sure that she got that flu shot for free. And her little Pony, too.