Not so fast, Twice

I have emerged from my five day weekend with a different outlook on my colonoscopy that is scheduled on Thursday. I might cancel it. In my last entry I had just revealed I was getting another one, my third time around. It is supposed to be my 5 year screening. Well last Friday I received an email from NCH, the hospital where the work is supposed to be done. In that email was a link for me to prepay my proposed share of the charges which totaled $1800. WTF? With my first two procedures they were covered 100% by our county insurance as they figure an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. I figured it had to be some sort of mistake so I reached out to the doctor office.

Without going into a lot of detail, the issue is this new office is refusing to submit the procedure as a preventative screening and instead as something based on me having some polyps removed previously. This change flips a switch where the patient now gets to suffer financial pain instead of insurance footing the bill 100%. I had a prolonged phone conversation with the doctor office about this and informed them that when I had my second colonoscopy three years after the first one I did not have to pay because it was submitted as another screening, which it is. They did not seem to care.

I also talked to my benefits person at the county. All she could confirm is if the doctor submits the procedure as a screening it is 100% covered. Of course she can’t force the doctor to do this. So I am at a crossroads today.

I have already decided that I absolutely will not pay nearly 2k out of pocket for this. That is based on the total charge being over $16,000 which is absolute insanity for a 15 minute procedure. So if the doctor’s office does not agree to change the procedure type to a screening I will simply cancel the appointment. In two years I will be 60 and will be at the time frame where the county requires another colonoscopy so I would just deal with it then. Sure it’s not ideal to push off a recommended screening but this is the reality of medical care in the US. You don’t get the care you need, you get the care you can afford.

Over the 5 day break I got out on two EUC rides, a rarity. On one of the rides I had an encounter with a guy that called me a f’ing asshole several times which I describe at length in the video. I also might be doing another EUC barter transaction which I have done several times in the past. I would be trading my small Nosfet Aero for a BIG Extreme Bull Commander Pro Max. It’s not written in stone yet but I think the odds are good that it happens.

I spent a decent amount of time during this break in the new WoW expansion trying to level one character to the new max level of 90. I’m almost there. It’s the first conventional leveling I have done in a long time and I have enjoyed myself while doing it.

So I have either a two or three day work week depending on how events transpire today. Part of me would like to kick the colonoscopy can down the road another couple years and part of me would like to just get it over with, as long as it doesn’t incur a significant financial impact for doing so.