The day started like any other, with Hick sitting on the long couch before leaving around 6:00 a.m. I was on the short couch. But this day, Hick said, "Happy Mother's Day."
"Thank you."
"I seen you got a nice card yesterday from Genius."
"Yes. Right on time. Pony is bringing one on Tuesday, when we have our 'celebration' with Chinese food."
"When I cook them pork steaks?"
"No! I am NOT doing any cooking on Tuesday! It's my Mother's Day! You are cooking the pork steaks tonight. I'll bake the beans, and I've thawed out the hash brown casserole to have with it, too. So this will be three meals worth, for Sunday, Monday, and Wednesday. Tuesday is Chinese. I'm not doing anything but eating."
"Oh. Okay."
Of course we rescheduled Mother's Day for Hick to have his day of business Sunday at his SUS2.5 (Storage Unit Store 2.5). That was fine with me. All my days are pretty much the same.
Then started a discussion of the tests Hick had on Friday, to prepare for the surgery he had to postpone until August due to his x-rays of not-pneumonia and uncollapsed lung. It was a Transthoracic Echocardiogram Test. Which Hick referred to as a stress test. All I know is that he had three tests scheduled that day, spread out over three hours, to determine if he is sound for surgery.
"I couldn't believe the cost of that test! It was $17,000-something!"
"No, Val. It was $13,400."
"I don't know where you get that! I just looked at it yesterday when you gave me the receipt for the $150 copay. It was $17,000-something."
"Nooo. I looked at it when they handed it to me. It's $13,400."
"I'm so tired of you doing this to me! I looked right at it. Then I threw it in the trash. I don't really want to get up right now, but later I'm going to dig it out to prove it to you."
"I can go get it right now. On my way out. Where is it?"
"You'll never find it. You can't find anything! It's in the wastebasket. Come back over here and stand in front of me."
"I don't need to do that. I know where the wastebasket is."
"That's surprising! But you won't look in the right spot unless you're lined up like you're looking right at it. It's HERE! At about the 4:00 area. Folded in quarters like when you handed it to me."
"What are you gonna say when you see it's $13,400?"
"Nothing. Because I know it was $17,000-something."
Surprisingly enough, Hick found the discarded receipt. Even more surprising, he actually brought it to show me:
"Let me see!"
"Huh. I guess I read it wrong."
"Reading it wrong is not a big deal. It's how you always treat me like I DON'T KNOW NOTHIN', when I'm actually right, and you are just figuring I won't bother to check on your 'facts' that you use to prove me wrong. Maybe next time, you'll listen to me."
At 7:22, Hick must have been feeling guilty. He sent me a text.
"I'm sorry o didn't get you a card but I do love you happy mothers day." With a big emoji kind of picture with flowers that said Happy Mother's Day.
Never mind that Hick still has time to get me a real card by Tuesday. I'm pretty sure that's not gonna happen. It's no big deal to me if I get a card or gift.
The best part about this Mother's Day is that I got VALidation.
Yes, VALidation wins the day, any day of the week:) Either way, $13,000 or $17,000 is too much for a test!
ReplyDeleteThat's the insurance price, their negotiated fee with this insurance company. People without insurance get a way lower price. Insurance is such a racket!
DeleteYears ago, after Hick had his neck surgery, we did not get a bill in the mail. We DID get a late notice the month after the first billing. I called the hospital, debit card in hand, to ask if I could pay over the phone. The billing clerk said that if I could pay RIGHT THEN, the bill would be half as much! Of course I paid it. Then I told Hick I was insulted. "It's like she thought we were PAUPERS, and couldn't pay our bills!" Hick said he didn't care what they thought of us, because I just got a 50% discount! And yes, we DID have insurance. This was the amount left over that they cut in half.
Oh Hick! Once you're happy, that is all that matters. My friend is a newly wed compared to you, and she and her husband are still working out their spousal communication woes!
ReplyDeleteYou'd think we would be able to communicate by now! It's been 36 years! Of course I blame Hick...
DeletePeople without insurance get charged less? So why use insurance at all? I always thought people get charged the regulated amount and their insurance pays part of the cost so the person pays the difference, the "gap" fee. With prices (fees) being (government) regulated someone without insurance would have to pay more. That's how it works here.
ReplyDeleteOh, yeah. And people with different insurances get charged different amounts. The facility and others in their giant medical network have a "negotiated price" for each procedure, with each insurance company.
DeleteAt school, we'd get a list of several different policies (within the insurance company the district had chosen for that year), to decide which we wanted to pick. It depended on how much we wanted to pay monthly for our part of the coverage, and how high we wanted the deductible amount, and what amount was allowed for certain meds or procedures. NOTHING about insurance is simple here! It's a racket! Don't even get Hick started on how some people (like Old Buddy) get their insurance for free, and run to the ER every time they want treatment, rather than having a regular doctor and making an appointment.
My bills are starting to come in and they are amazing! Like Hick, the part we have to pay is minimal compared to the part the insurance covers. A doctor in a practice on his own told me that they have to charge high for procedures to be able to negotiate the amount the insurance company will cover. It is expensive to maintain a practice when you consider all the equipment and salaries to employees along with benefits in order to get competent employees. This is why so many doctors would rather work for a hospital. No rent and utilities to cover, no employees to pay and most hospitals will cover malpractice for the doctors. This leaves the people with no insurance who rely on the ER for their basic care. Hospitals will negotiate with indigent families to pay half of what they owe. For that it would be good to be indigent!
ReplyDeleteMany of my students, and some folks like Old Buddy, use the ER for the convenience, knowing they won't be paying anything. The kids would go to get a doctor's note when they were in attendance trouble, saying, "They can't prove you don't have a headache or a backache. Then you get your note." They weren't even seeking painkillers. Just wanting not to get kicked out and lose their credit for the semester.
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