LifeAfterDx--Diabetes Uncensored

A internet journal from one of the first T1 Diabetics to use continuous glucose monitoring. Copyright 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016

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Location: New Mexico, United States

Hi! I’m William “Lee” Dubois (called either Wil or Lee, depending what part of the internet you’re on). I’m a diabetes columnist and the author of four books about diabetes that have collectively won 16 national and international book awards. (Hey, if you can’t brag about yourself on your own blog, where can you??) I have the great good fortune to pen the edgy Dear Abby-style advice column every Saturday at Diabetes Mine; write the Diabetes Simplified column for dLife; and am one of the ShareCare diabetes experts. My work also appears in Diabetic Living and Diabetes Self-Management magazines. In addition to writing, I’ve spent the last half-dozen years running the diabetes education program for a rural non-profit clinic in the mountains of New Mexico. Don’t worry, I’ll get some rest after the cure. LifeAfterDx is my personal home base, where I get to say what and how I feel about diabetes and… you know… life, free from the red pens of editors (all of whom I adore, of course!).

Thursday, September 27, 2007

The envelope(s)

I use to like checking the mail. The lab was a mail-order operation for decades. The mail use to be the source of our income. People sent us money (and film and negatives) everyday. The mail was the source of all blessings.

Things have changed.

I opened the lab’s “big box” at the branch Post Office. A moth flew out. No shit. It really happened. Then I opened the small box, where we get our personal mail.

Bill, bill, bill, junk mail, second notice, termination notice…

Oh God, an envelope from my health insurance company. What has the world come to when we get cold chills down our spines when we get missives from our insurers?

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiip!

Let’s see here….Si necesita una version de este documento en espanaol…..wtf? I flip it over, but the back is blank. It is common in New Mexico to find Spanish on one side of a letter and English on the other. I flip the letter back over and scan further.

Ah, there is English further down.

Dear Wil, thank you for choosing Presbyterian as your health plan. This is how dear John letters usually start. This letter is to notify you that Dr. E has requested durable medical equipment on your behalf. We want to notify you that this has been approved. The approval is for: Purchase of 3 boxes of sensors…

Hooray! Pres is gonna buy one-half of three more boxes!

If you’re out of the loop, I got approved for one box earlier. I’m running low so our first salvo was to have Medtronic ask Pres to either re-approve or extend the approval. I know that it is still hit and miss, but I’m really starting to feel like I’m going to be covered long-term. Too bad it’s only at 50%; but if I was still with Blue Cross I’d probably still be 100% uncovered (and not in a sexy way, either).

So maybe envelopes aren’t always bad news afterall.

Next envelope is from Rio’s school.

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiip!

Dear Parent(s): we would like to meet with you to discuss your child’s academic performance to date……

2 Comments:

Blogger RichW said...

I do love your posts. It made me laugh out loud. I have BCBS. At least I can get a new leg brace out of them. I had polio and the brace is expensive so I'm surprised. Of course, they know we're all dying off so they make like they care. In my case, if they paid for the CGMS I might live too long.

12:25 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Good--- it is not bad news. Hope there is nothing to drastic in the school conference after 1 month. At least they keep in touch. I did not get news that my son had a learning disability until the last week of kindergarten. Schools and insurance companies...watch out...

1:06 PM  

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