Shrinking
So today I had my health screening that is a requirement for our health insurance. Although most people typically look at local government as an example of how to NOT handle things I have to say I like the way they handle health insurance in our situation. It puts some degree of responsibility on the employee being insured. There are three levels of coverage offered for county employees. The lowest level has high co-pays and high deductibles. The best level has the smallest co-pays and deductibles and there is one in between level.
If you choose to not give a flying fck about your health you are not required to do a single thing to qualify for the lowest coverage level. If you want any coverage above that you are required to at least undergo a health screening which consists of basic body measurements, weigh in and a full blood work panel. If that screening shows you are within defined guidelines for your age you are good to go and covered at the highest level. If the screening identifies an issue you have to take additional measures to address the problem. At the very least you have to undergo “awareness” training so people can’t use the excuse “they had no idea they were so unhealthy”. If you choose to not do the awareness training you are thrown into the middle tier of coverage.
This is the part of the program I wish was stricter. For example if you are 50 pounds overweight you should HAVE to lose a certain percentage of weight to qualify for the higher coverage level. Hell if you are a smoker you can continue to be one and still be covered under the best plan as long as you attend a smoking cessation class which just seems dumb to me. I understand that legally the county probably can’t force people to do these things but I wish they could.
So anyway my screening went fine. I officially measured in at 6’3.25″ which is a 1’4 inch shorter than I was measured as a young man. I guess the shrinkage has begun. My other numbers were good with a 32″ waist, 185 pounds fully dressed minus shoes, and a BP of 124/80.
As usual I had my uncontrollable poor reaction to the blood draw. I didn’t watch any aspect of it but just the mere anticipation made my extremities go cold. As he pulled 5 vials out of me I was playing mental games trying to battle whatever it is that makes me feel so woozy when it happens. I have a similar reaction to pretty much anything medical.
Even though I am doing a good job of staying ahead of the Christmas curve I have had a persistent feeling that I am not. I suppose with Thanksgiving being just about as late as it possibly can be this year it has made the Christmas approach feel even shorter. Tonight is the running club annual Christmas party which I will not be attending for the first time in damn close to 10 years. They upscaled the event this year with a $50 a head price tag which pushed it out of the reasonable range for me, especially considering our upcoming NYC trip. Both Cindy and I would rather spend the money there at this point. All things come to an end, eventually.