Insurance Rant

So, BG has to go and get ear tubes put in... again. I thought it would happen. She's got really bad ears and her doctor told us point-blank that we might have to go through a few sets of tubes before she grows out of her problem. I guess I had kind of hoped we would be lucky enough to avoid surgery (and medical bills!) again, but la-la-laaaaaaaa... here we are again. The tubes fell out, her ears are full of fluid again, and she can't hear.

The sad thing is, becasue the insurance companies make all the medical decisions, she has to go on Claritin for a month before the doctor can do the tubes again. For some reason, the insurance won't pay for a second set of tubes unless you try something else in-between. He said he won't prescribe antibiotics because it's not infected, and he doesn't think a decongestant will help much, but we have to do this for a month before we can just get the tubes put in. Meanwhile, BG has to go a month without being able to hear. (I mean, she is REALLY hard of hearing. Unless she's looking at you and you're right in front of her, all she hears is a muffled noise.) Nice.

Thank you, Faceless Insurance Company Executives. It's good that you make all the decisions concerning our medical care because these doctors would certainly prescribe expensive surgery and we would certainly put her through it needlessly, just for something to do. No, don't worry, nothing's going to happen at school that requires my daughter to actually hear what's going on for the next month. Maybe her teacher will want to play charades, instead. Surely she can teach phonics through charades. We'll just wait a month for new ear tubes and try the decongestant because my doctor (who has done literally thousands of these surgeries) could know less about ear tube surgery than you do. Besides, I actually like yanking her out of school, driving an extra two hours, and paying the copay for repeated office visits we could avoid if we just got the surgery over with now. Thank you. Thank you so much. I see the added annoyance as a gift, because when it's over, I'll appreciate how much simpler life is without being tangled up in your red tape.

*headdesk*

Anyway, that's my now-deaf daughter playing at the playground, enjoying her childhood, when she doesn't have to deal with things like insurance and red-tape. Oh, to be five again...