Rantin' and Ravin'

I moseyed over to Dick Blick on Saturday to check out their drafting tables. I found one I really liked and walked around the store for 20 minutes trying to find someone to help me. When my efforts proved fruitless, I moseyed right on out of the store, thinking I would just find somewhere else to spend my moneys. Like the Internet. Later that evening, I went over to Brandy and John’s house to enjoy some margaritas and enchiladas. I was in the middle of relating my sad tale of Dick Blick when John solved all of my problems. The dude has a drafting table he’s not using right now! So I have a table on loan that I plan to go pick up tomorrow night. He also has an X-ray light that I can mount on a wall to do tracings. My friends rock! One’s letting me use her basement, free of charge. The other is loaning me expensive art furniture. Yay for friends! Yay for basements! Yay for art!

**Rant Alert**

So…I’m not a big fan of Michael Moore. His documentaries reflect his personal agenda a little too much for my tastes. In fact, the only one I could sit through was Roger and Me. But I’m contemplating going to see Sicko for the simple fact that he apparently targets two insurance companies for not paying for bilateral cochlear implants for children. I know he also targets the hospitals that work with insurance companies, which makes me angry and uncomfortable because I don’t necessarily trust him to portray the confusing and difficult task it is to work with insurance AND I don’t know how much of the film is spent addressing this particular issue, but I feel the need to see it.

A huge part of my job is working with patients’ families to secure insurance coverage for their implants. As we see more and more children recommended for bilateral implantation, my job seems to get more and more involved with helping these parents fight the companies they pay on a monthly basis to insure their health and the health of their children. But some companies don’t seem to consider hearing loss to be a health issue. “Oh, your baby can’t hear? That sucks. Well, we’ll pay for her to hear with one ear, even though the top neurotologists/audiologists/speech pathologists in the nation think it’s appropriate for her to hear with both, and see how she does…”

The thing is, it’s better when we get a response stating they’ll only cover one. At least we know what they’ll pay for. Oftentimes, we won’t ever hear back from insurance companies after submitting a letter of medical necessity. As a result, I spend hours on the phone in a call queue, trying to get to an actual human being to tell me why the company hasn’t responded. The absolute worst is when we get a faxed reply stating “Cochlear Implants do no require prior authorization. This is not a guarantee of coverage. This is not an approval or a denial. A claim must be submitted in order to approve coverage…” That just means the surgery has to be completed and the billing information submitted in order to find out how much they will pay. Does that even make sense?

So I guess I can donate $8.00 to the Hollywood machine to find out if this flick will shed any light on the heinous activities of insurance companies.

** Rant Ended**

Now that my ranting is over, let’s focus on the positive. Next week is the Fourth of July, which means I’ll have Wednesday off from work. Whoo hoo! Vacation in the middle of the week makes me a happy panda bear. Plans have been made for grilling and swimming and fireworks with my buds. I might even take Thursday and Friday off if I’m feeling a little crazy.

Well, I’m off to yoga class. Last Thursday’s class was awesome. I couldn’t even stand up when it was over. I lay on my mat for about 10 minutes after the class was finished. Hopefully this week will be the same. It’s the best physical activity I have access to right now… (Wink! Followed by a long sigh…)

Peace and Love