I am blogging everyday (or nearly everyday) on The Daily Stoic.
I almost forgot day one. It’s possible that I could write thoughts on how I stopped what I was doing (playing video games) to do my daily blog post. Instead I plan to write about something that happened earlier in the day.
I had a good day today. I was quite the productive adult (shit I forgot about my laundry). I got up, worked, and then worked out. After that I did some chores around the house and then left to run some errands. Before leaving, I opened a letter from my insurance company. They were asking me why I went to one of my many rehab appointments in November. The appointment is fairly obvious. I fractured my finger, so I need to go see a physical therapist about the finger. This is a big insurance company just looking to save a buck and require that I respond with details and if I’ve lawyered up (WTF?!?).
I responded to the basics and made sure to write in at the top, “It’s rehab!” For the lawyer question I asked, “Do I need to?” I put it in an envelope and put it in my mailbox for delivery. They said I had 10 days to respond. The letter was dated December 04, 2019. I just pulled it out of the mail today, December 23, 2019. Has the period to respond already past? Am I in for a fight with the insurance company over one rehab appointment? really?!? This has happened before with my daughter. She went to the same appointment nine times. Insurance wouldn’t cover three of them…
I realized that how I responded in the letter didn’t matter. The person that would receive the letter would probably sympathize, but ultimately have a process they needed to follow. The real entity I was mad at was our health care system. How insurance is just another profitable entity and if they have to pay out on your behalf they lose money. I’m already at a high-deductible, so they’re not getting as much money out of me as someone who pays a good chunk of their pay check for insurance they more or may not use. Unfortunately, it’s a business and I can’t change that by writing snarky response.
The stoic control and choice is about what we can and can’t control and how we respond to it. I responded poorly in the above scenario above. It felt good at the time, but someone who has no control over the insurance company process, now has to deal with it. I just hope they don’t feel like I’m attacking them.