A Rant.

Brace Yourself.

I hate health insurance. There. I said it. There is no point to it.

Background: Two Fridays ago, my neck started hurting. I don't know what caused it, but I suspect it was just from sitting at my desk all week, staring at the computer screen. It was sort of a dull, annoying ache that didn't automatically send warning signs to my brain, so I ignored it. Saturday it still ached, but I went on with my usual day. Sunday it got a little worse, and I kept telling my parents how bad it hurt. I would just start rubbing it to see what was wrong, and it would feel better for a while and start aching again. At this point, I couldn't turn my head all the way to the side, so I would have to turn my whole body to see something.

Sunday night, I put Icy Hot on it, which made it feel immensely better (sometimes I want to bathe in that stuff). Monday it felt like it was finally feeling normal.

Then Tuesday 4 a.m. happened. I tossed and turned, but no matter how I laid my head, my neck pain woke me up. I was in tears Tuesday morning when I got to work. I called a chiropractor, made an appointment for an hour later, paid my $40 co-pay, and saw the doctor. He put me through electro-shock muscle therapy, a therapeutic ultrasound, traction, X-rays and finally, an attempted adjustment. However, my neck was too tight to do one and he asked me to come back the next day.

All day after my appointment, my neck was even more sore. I still couldn't turn it or move it very well, but I was anxious to go back to have my neck adjusted and read the X-rays.

Wednesday morning, I get to the doctor's office and the woman at the front desk tells me I need to make a payment toward a $750 deductible. I almost shit myself. I was like "What?!?!" and she didn't do a great job of explaining what the hell was going on with the payments I was making. I was under the impression that if I saw a specialist, my insurance would cover it. It's necessary. So I basically had tears running down my cheek as I called my mom to have her explain how my insurance works. The $750 deductible has to be paid before the insurance company even touches your claim. When you pay that, you have $3500 per year to make doctors visits, but as soon as that is done, you have to pay it on your own. And even after that $750 is paid, there is still your responsibility to pay 20 percent of the cost of the visit. Or so I understood.

I was called in to the doctor and they started to do all the things we did the day before, but I finally told them I just wanted to be adjusted. So he came in the exam room and popped my back and finally was able to give me a little relief in my neck. Then, he proceeded to show me my X-rays and explained to me that instead of a "C" shape to my neck, it was straight up and down, which is what was causing my pain. He pointed out a joint that was slightly smaller than the rest and said for some reason, that joint is getting more wear and tear than the others and he wanted to fix it. Going back to the exam room, he told me he wanted to start treatment right away, and I told him I couldn't until I knew for sure that my insurance would cover it.

He then called in a woman that couldn't have been much older than me to tell me he wanted to see me 12 more times in the next month. She told me that I could make any payment possible toward the cost of the exams and suggested I pay $60 a visit. The normal visit, she said, was $150. So, they wanted me to come three times a week at $60 per visit, which is a bit more than I can even PAY PER MONTH! So, essentially, I had to tell the insurance woman and the doctor that I couldn't come back for any more treatments.

Now (as of today), the other side of my neck is aching in about the same way, but because I can't afford to seek treatment, Icy Hot is my new friend. Damn. It doesn't make sense to have insurance when none of it is covered anyway. Should have voted for Hillary.