Bills before Results

Yesterday's mail greeted me with these...

Yep, those are the bills for for CT Scan and Chest x-ray. Funny how those made it to me before the results of said tests. Mom says the ease with which I have been billed is because of my lack of insurance. I can see that. As I see it, there are two (possibly three) ways I could react to these gifts in the mail.

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#1. I can get upset, overwhelmed, and crawl under the covers in my comfy bed with Little Bit and cry...cry the kind of ugly snot filled cry of a money strapped girl that until last week was comfortable being broke. Cause broke meant making it. Broke meant healthy don't owe nobody don't wanna owe nobody. Now broke means hmm...do I send the doctors (plural), the radiologist, the CT Scan machine this 40 bucks I have right here, or do I chuck it all, stop breaking the law and get my license plate renewed like a good little girl. (I don’t say this to complain, just a fact of life right now.)

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#2. Face them, introduce myself, tell them to get comfortable, and make a plan, however small and commit?

*Or*

#3. My personal favorite...slip the bills into an envelope addressed to me, stamp it, and mail them back to myself once I get some kind of answer from the doctor.

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Maybe the hospital bills so much so that you can focus on something other than the fact that you could be really sick. "What? You say you have a tumor growing out of your neck? Your scared and it hurts? No problem just concentrate on the five different places that will bill you between 150-1200 each and all your pain will go away. We appreciate your business."

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I am seriously thinking about writing a letter to the editor chronicling what I consider the cruelty of billing for a medical procedure before getting the results. All week I have had people who love me anxious to receive results. I believe their worries and cares are what have allowed me to remain sane and livable in this my week off.

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There are a lot of 'letters to the editor' I would like to write. Some serious, some funny, and some just plain petty. Maybe I could start a magazine devoted solely to 'letters to the editor' written by concerned citizens. Everyday heroes willing to speak up for the injustices and sins of the community.

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Besides the current medical billing travesty, saving the rainforests, littering, and the unnecessary use of fowl language the biggest concern I would like to write to the editor would be concerning thrift stores. But, that is a post for another time…

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Sidenote:

Today started with good intentions and ended in complete and utter frustration and disappointment…I realized a lot about myself, not all good, maybe one day I’ll feel like posting about it, but today I just want to acknowledge how completely flawed and incomplete I am…we gotta keep growing or we will die right?