The High Cost of Health Care Inaction, Via Chat

See, it's like the bus is rising health care costs. And we're all on it.

Here's a local angle on the health care reform debate. This afternoon, I was minding my own business when a chat window popped up. My friend, let's call him Mr. Doe, said, "Wanna hear a funny story?":

I was watching this and eating lunch at my desk --> Obama healthcare speech

when I got a call from the "pre-collections" team at [local hospital] because my insurance company took 6 months to decide that they would not cover the expense associated with removing 6 stitches from my son's hand.

There's a visual joke here--watching me try to take notes with my broken hand [snowboard accident]. I'm waiting to get a CAT scan because my insurance will apparently pass on the full price of the procedure to me.

I couldn't even watch the rest of the Obama speech. Let me know how it turns out.

They want to give me 2 CAT scans. One for the hand and another for the wrist. I guess these two body parts are far enough apart as to require separate billable procedures.

"Did we already pass the funny part?" I wrote back.

These are the jokes, MvB. This is all I have today.

Don't think less of me, but my first question was, "Hey, can I reformat your suffering into a post?"

The lesson learned is that stitch removal is a lucrative field. $15 per stitch. We should open a side business. MvB & Doe's Stitch Removal Hut.

So, here's how it turned out. About 66 percent of people who watched the speech were in favor of Obama's health care plans, says CNN. But as Democrats were more likely to want to educate themselves and make an informed choice (here I editorialize slightly), more of them may have tuned into the speech than Republicans.