Cold Spaghetti

Aye, Nietzsche.  What other choice do we have?

Finally, I heard back from Tulane’s health insurance system… in a mass email, but hey, at least it was something.  What before was “I don’t think you qualify, but I need to check,” is actually I *DO* qualify to enroll in the Tulane plan even though I am considered a ‘part-time’ dissertation student without course credits.  In fact, I can enroll all four of us on the plan… AND even get dental.  The price?  About $12,000 annually, (only $10,200 without dental.)  Plus 20% for Every Damn Thing, a $750 deductible to meet, and a low lifetime maximum (don’t get hit by a bus)!

While this is still cheaper than the $1800/month COBRA option, it’s still pretty high.  But it buys us some time to find out what will happen in a year.

Another option we’re trying to explore: getting the Tulane insurance (which is, all in all, a pretty crappy,  expensive plan but maybe better than nothing?) for just me and seeing if Blue Cross Blue Shield will insure just Paul and the kids.  BCBS has not been happy with my paperwork thus far, since I know have ‘ulcerative colitis’ on my ‘history’ but have had no treatment for this diagnosis for almost 7 years.  I tracked down my old doctor from Michigan (now in Irvine, California) who called me at 11:55pm local time last Thursday.  That’s how hard insurance companies make doctors work… that they are at the office at 10pm calling patients a few time zones away.  *sigh*

We had a great conversation despite the late time and she relayed to me a dozen insurance horror stories which included things like a triathlete who happened to have a sinus infection the year before applying for coverage and was offered a policy which included a waiver that anything related to sinus infection would not be covered for 6 years.  And one about a patient who was treated for a cold and mentioned having some diarrhea at the time of treatment — he was denied health insurance and although Dr. Song wrote several letters attesting to the man’s health and the fact that diarrhea is just a normal part of having a cold, the policy was refused.  In other words, she was pretty convinced that because of my colitis history… even though she agrees it was very likely self-limiting (meaning I’ll probably never have any issues again)… that I will never be able to get insurance.

So the game continues.