Bah. Paperwork.

Actually not paperwork, it's online forms now. Is there a word for that? Online formwork? Screenwork?

Anyway, it's open renewal time for my health insurance, so I must contemplate my assorted options (high deductible with HSA? No deductible with FSA?).

I do appreciate that my options include not just employee only or family plan, but include variations: employee only, employee with spouse or partner, employee with child or children (two for the price of one really works!), or the whole family if you have that many people.

When there are only two of you, jumping from single coverage to a family plan may not make that much sense, so having an option to add a spouse (or child) for less than the cost of the full family plan is a nice gesture.

I don't remember this from last year, so it may be new. If so, I approve its addition to the lineup and think more health plans should offer it.

If not, I approve its continuation in the lineup and commend it on sneaking by me last year. Good stealth check, plan option!

Nevertheless, approving these choices or no, picking the right overall plan is a little nerve-wracking. We have three choices with varying levels of upfront cost and potential expenses covered, and it's kind of a gamble, isn't it?

How much medical care do I bet I'm going to need next year? Should I spend a little more to make sure more eventualities are covered, or go cheap and bet on not having many expenses?

I pretty much hate insurance with a bitter passion, but as a colleague pointed out, the only thing worse than insurance is not having insurance, so I know I should recognize my good fortune in having a job that provides it--and with so many options, too!

Duly recognized.

Spread the Outrage

Cara at The Curvature has a post up called "All Denials of Coverage For Pre-Existing Conditions Deserve Equal Outrage."

It talks about how a lot of people find it weirdly wrong that, say, domestic violence or a prior cesarean section delivery can be considered 'pre-existing conditions' and therefore reasons to be denied health insurance.

Then it points out that there's something uneven in the way that only some pre-existing conditions get this attention and are seen as unfair, as if the whole idea of using pre-existing conditions to winnow out expensive customers weren't kind of weirdly wrong on its own from any sort of "let's do good for people" standpoint. Of course it's not about doing good for people, which I guess is part of the disconnect.

I mean, we should all have known better than to have ever gotten sick before if we wanted to be able to afford health insurance, right? What could be more equitable than that?

It's an interesting system we've got here, all right.

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