Saturday June 25th 2001 - SURGERY DELAY!!!!!!

Our insurance is through my wife's employer and it crossed its annual renewal date July 1st. Since my surgery was scheduled for July 11th the insurance told the surgeon's office that they would have to refile the packet that had already been approved. It took the insurance eight days last month and, considering the July 4th holiday, we don't think they will be able to get the new approval before my surgery date.

Considering and estimating the timing of events, we have rescheduled my pre-op appointment for July 20th. By then we will have the new approval. The actual surgery is now scheduled for August 3rd.

While I am disappointed, I believe it was God taking care of me. For one, I'm taking a working vacation to Santa Fe, New Mexico the week of July 24th. It was never a good idea to travel so soon after surgery, but I wanted the surgery so bad I was willing to ignore the obvious red flag.

In addition, it gives me more time to formulate my funding strategy. I've marked down my cemetery plots to the point that I undercut all of the competition so I am sure I will sell them soon. Losing the previous sale was near disastrous for the July 5th pre-op meeting where I needed to pay my portion of the bills. I could have done it, but it meant maxing out three of my credit cards.

As I had written previously, the peer to peer loan wasn't working because most people are unfamiliar with the lending practice. However, I did receive an approval from a medical financing company for $3,000. The loan is fine, but the origination fee is $1,000. Their justification for the huge fee is that my credit risk is too high and the fact that they would have nothing to re-possess like a tangible item like a car or a house. So basically, this company would be loaning me the money without any security. I don't like it, but I get it.

I have until July 8th to accept or decline the loan. Hopefully I won't need it, but I would rather accept the fee than max out my credit cards or borrow money from family. If you look at the whole picture, I am saving $2,000 because the hospital classified my surgery at the lower rate plus I can save $1,800 by paying the anesthesiologist and the surgical assistant early. And, of course, its just money and I would have gladly paid far more than I am actually going to pay to have the surgery. If they had told me I needed $12,000 it would have been a challenge, but I would still do it.

The main thing is that I am frustrated and seriously depressed by my weight. I do not like being fat. No one does. This surgery will literally save my life by weight loss and increasing my potential ability to have a liver transplant. I hate the delay, but it is probably a good thing.

September 9th, 2009 - Health Care Insurance

It's really quite simple to me. If I didn't have insurance, I would be dead; seriously. My family needs health insurance. Last year, we spent more than $30,000 on premiums, deductibles, co-pays, and, in many cases, our contractual obligation to pay 20% on most procedures. This year we will pay more. I would love to spend that money on a new house. Only through the grace of God and very good friends have we been able to keep our insurance. With my extensive laundry list of current and past health issues, I'm sure we would get rejected by almost all health insurance companies. The simple truth is it needs to be fixed. Someone; somehow needs to fix health care as soon as possible.

With that being said, my weight today was 316 pounds. I'm getting back in there! I wanted to go for a ride or at least do some incline training here in our very hilly neighborhood. The day got away from me, but I did manage to workout for an hour or so. I increased some weights and added an extra set of 10 reps to each station. I'm not sore now, but my arms and torso felt like jello when I left the gym. Tomorrow I will ride somewhere.