Okay, so yesterday, I went to the periodontist, a very nice Harvard-educated lady, where the waiting room has a MINI-BAR (wow), and she told me that she doesn't know whether I'll need the crown lengthening or the implant. What's the difference? The price. (DEATH WALLET!)
Yeah, the waiting room has a mini-bar. There was a little fridge with bottles of water. There was an automated thermos of hot water, and then a variety of individual servings of Green Mountain coffee and tea (excellent coffee), in a little spinning caddy. Above the bar was a flat screen tv, playing One Life to Live. It made me think, "Maybe I can't afford this place." (DEATH WALLET!)
So we took a digital x-ray (DEATH WALLET) and she looked at it and can't really see how far down the crack goes. Both the crown lengthening (a crown that fits over the root canal but would extend below the gum line) and the implant (remove the entire old tooth and put a screw into my jawbone that has a entire fake tooth screwed into the other end) start out the same way. Basically, she cuts back the gum to reveal roots of the tooth. At that point, she'll have to decide which one is feasible. If it's not too bad, we'll go with the crown lengthening. If the crack extends to the fork in the roots, then the crown lengthening wouldn't necessarily stop a bacterial infection there and the implant is the better way to go.
Because I had a root canal done just last year, MetLife, my dental insurance, won't necessarily cover the cost of the implant. (DEATH WALLET/PANEL/INSURANCE/?) So the crown lengthening, would end up being a cost to me of $152, while the implant, even with the reduced insurance-negotiated cost, is $1689. ... yeah ...
I like my periodontist. She was very nice and honest about the procedure. She says I have excellent gum and hygience. And she was sensitive to how much it was going to cost me. So I guess I'll just have to trust her judgement on it.
No new tires for me.
Meanwhile, I go back to see my dentist/future husband in late September. He must never meet my periodontist because she was way cuter than me. And Harvard-educated, how can I compare with that. Although ... I did go to the same school as his brother. Go VCU RAMS!
In other news, did I tell you that my cousin from Korea is now going to VCU. She's staying in Rhoads Hall. She says she loves Richmond.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Red Sox with Kati
We saw the Red Sox play the Oakland A's. Red Sox won 5-4. Drew and Ortiz hit home runs. Song is "Eye of the Tiger," by Survivor.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
A tough pill to swallow
Some of you may not know, but my tendencies tend to be Republican. Overall, I'm an independent. I like to look at candidates individually and don't necessarily agree with entire party philosophies. But overall, I lean Republican.
It probably comes of having a father who's a loud Republican, who is himself a result of a father who was a loud Democrat. My father, in turn, produced my sister, who is a pretty devoted Democrat. Which of course led her daughter, my niece, to develop pretty staunch Republican tendencies by the tender age of 13. It's a vicious cycle. Of which, I've happily broken free.
The only time that I saw my father embrace something even mildly Democrat-ish, was when we were in Spain and Nathan got sick. We were directed to a hospital, where Nathan was x-rayed (twice!), and hooked up to an IV, while we waited for hours. As it turns out, he was only dehyrated, but since he was also diabetic, we wanted to be sure. At the end of the visit, I asked the doctor where to pay the bill. At first, she didn't understand our question. When I asked again, she shook her head and said, "No pay." I shrugged and walked out. When I told my father, his eyes got wide, and he said, "Hey, that's great! Let's get out of here quick!"
Since then, my father thinks that social medicine is a fantastic idea. You'd be hard-pressed to talk him out of it. I know that these things come at a great expense though: taxes. When I was traveling in Germany, I talked to someone who was telling me how great American colleges were and he wanted to go. And I told him how lucky that German colleges were free for him to attend. He responded that they weren't free - income tax is 70%! This is what the govt takes to pay for colleges, health care, roads, and all the other things that govt takes care of.
I had to ask myself if I wanted free college, free health care, paid vacations, and year-long maternity leaves, and all that other great stuff, at a cost of 70% of my salary? I don't know - it's a tough question.
This is really at the heart of all these people causing an uproar in all these town meetings. I couldn't understand why all of these people were so angry about universally available and affordable health care and health insurance. The very idea made them angry. The idea! It's still just an idea that the president has thrown out there and they are angry enough to cause violence.
"Death panels?" Please, they don't like the idea that the government will say, "we can pay for this; we cannot pay for that?" That already happens! If it's not insurance companies doing it, it's your own wallet! Right now, I have to decide whether I'm going to get a longer-lasting, but more expensive implant for my tooth, OR the less-reliable, but more affordable crown. Incidentally, at the expense of new tires for my car. It's a comfort to know that when my car slides across the highway and I'm killed in a particularly bad snow storm this winter, that my teeth will look great. I'm going to start calling it my "death wallet."
And there you have it. People are angry because they don't want the govt to say "the cost of this health care is too much." Neither do they want to fork over 70% of their salary to hear, "you can have any health care you want."
I am angry. I'm very angry. And if you know me, you know that I've always been angry about this. Why doesn't anyone say, "you can have any health care you want and it's not going to cost you 70% of your salary for life?"
Because NO ONE is willing to tell a doctor or a hospital or a medical supply company or malpractice insurance company or ANYONE else in the medical field (even amongst themselves), "you are OVERPRICED!" for fear that they will compromise the quality of care that they receive. They are hiding behind a veil of heroism and respectability, while they conduct a business of saving lives. A business!!! Does anyone want to compare the number of service industries that have lowered prices in the recession and are therefore paying less to employees, or even laying them off, vs. the number of medical businesses/vendors/suppliers/doctors that have lowered prices in the recession? I'll bet money that the cost of medical services, and its inflation, does not mirror the economy AT ALL.
I don't know what's going to happen. But if we're going to have the kind of affordable health care that the UK, Spain, Germany, Australia, Canada, and a number of other wealthy countries have, the government is going to have to step in and subsidize. And by subsidize, I mean, control prices. When the cost of everything can be reduced, from the company that washes the linens, to the malpractice insurance, then we just might have a shot of keeping everyone healthy.
It probably comes of having a father who's a loud Republican, who is himself a result of a father who was a loud Democrat. My father, in turn, produced my sister, who is a pretty devoted Democrat. Which of course led her daughter, my niece, to develop pretty staunch Republican tendencies by the tender age of 13. It's a vicious cycle. Of which, I've happily broken free.
The only time that I saw my father embrace something even mildly Democrat-ish, was when we were in Spain and Nathan got sick. We were directed to a hospital, where Nathan was x-rayed (twice!), and hooked up to an IV, while we waited for hours. As it turns out, he was only dehyrated, but since he was also diabetic, we wanted to be sure. At the end of the visit, I asked the doctor where to pay the bill. At first, she didn't understand our question. When I asked again, she shook her head and said, "No pay." I shrugged and walked out. When I told my father, his eyes got wide, and he said, "Hey, that's great! Let's get out of here quick!"
Since then, my father thinks that social medicine is a fantastic idea. You'd be hard-pressed to talk him out of it. I know that these things come at a great expense though: taxes. When I was traveling in Germany, I talked to someone who was telling me how great American colleges were and he wanted to go. And I told him how lucky that German colleges were free for him to attend. He responded that they weren't free - income tax is 70%! This is what the govt takes to pay for colleges, health care, roads, and all the other things that govt takes care of.
I had to ask myself if I wanted free college, free health care, paid vacations, and year-long maternity leaves, and all that other great stuff, at a cost of 70% of my salary? I don't know - it's a tough question.
This is really at the heart of all these people causing an uproar in all these town meetings. I couldn't understand why all of these people were so angry about universally available and affordable health care and health insurance. The very idea made them angry. The idea! It's still just an idea that the president has thrown out there and they are angry enough to cause violence.
"Death panels?" Please, they don't like the idea that the government will say, "we can pay for this; we cannot pay for that?" That already happens! If it's not insurance companies doing it, it's your own wallet! Right now, I have to decide whether I'm going to get a longer-lasting, but more expensive implant for my tooth, OR the less-reliable, but more affordable crown. Incidentally, at the expense of new tires for my car. It's a comfort to know that when my car slides across the highway and I'm killed in a particularly bad snow storm this winter, that my teeth will look great. I'm going to start calling it my "death wallet."
And there you have it. People are angry because they don't want the govt to say "the cost of this health care is too much." Neither do they want to fork over 70% of their salary to hear, "you can have any health care you want."
I am angry. I'm very angry. And if you know me, you know that I've always been angry about this. Why doesn't anyone say, "you can have any health care you want and it's not going to cost you 70% of your salary for life?"
Because NO ONE is willing to tell a doctor or a hospital or a medical supply company or malpractice insurance company or ANYONE else in the medical field (even amongst themselves), "you are OVERPRICED!" for fear that they will compromise the quality of care that they receive. They are hiding behind a veil of heroism and respectability, while they conduct a business of saving lives. A business!!! Does anyone want to compare the number of service industries that have lowered prices in the recession and are therefore paying less to employees, or even laying them off, vs. the number of medical businesses/vendors/suppliers/doctors that have lowered prices in the recession? I'll bet money that the cost of medical services, and its inflation, does not mirror the economy AT ALL.
I don't know what's going to happen. But if we're going to have the kind of affordable health care that the UK, Spain, Germany, Australia, Canada, and a number of other wealthy countries have, the government is going to have to step in and subsidize. And by subsidize, I mean, control prices. When the cost of everything can be reduced, from the company that washes the linens, to the malpractice insurance, then we just might have a shot of keeping everyone healthy.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
A way better way to spend a morning, or perhaps several weekends.
So this is a video of the sketch that I wrote. Hope you like it. It's in 3 parts, so go to blip.tv and search for parts 2 and 3. 3 is the best, but WATCH THEM IN ORDER! Otherwise, it just won't make any sense.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
How NOT to spend a pleasant morning
Today, I watched one of the most depressing movies ever. Possibly even more depressing than the one about kids eating buttons because they think it is candy, which I never really saw because when my brother told me about it, I got teary-eyed and so I knew I'd never be able to watch it.
The movie that I watched today was called Nobody Knows. It's based on a true story about a mother who abandons her 4 kids in Tokyo to fend for themselves. Eventually one of them dies and the oldest brother doesn't know what to do, so he buries her in a suitcase.
OH GOD! it's so sad.
And I kept watching thinking that surely someone discovers these kids and some kind of authoritative figure comes and rescues the day.
But now I feel like an idiot that I really expected any kind of happy ending from a Japanese movie. They love pathos. They're sick.
The movie that I watched today was called Nobody Knows. It's based on a true story about a mother who abandons her 4 kids in Tokyo to fend for themselves. Eventually one of them dies and the oldest brother doesn't know what to do, so he buries her in a suitcase.
OH GOD! it's so sad.
And I kept watching thinking that surely someone discovers these kids and some kind of authoritative figure comes and rescues the day.
But now I feel like an idiot that I really expected any kind of happy ending from a Japanese movie. They love pathos. They're sick.
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