My Motorcycle Injuries

I have had so much medical “stuff” done to me within this calendar year that I will no longer have a deductible on any major medical procedures throughout the remainder of 2020. Hooray for me, right? I guess. Anyway, this recent development set me to thinking about surgery again. My knee has been hurting in new and inventive ways the past several weeks without any provocation, and I started thinking about the fact that I could save a bunch of money on the insurance deductible for a surgery that will inevitably have to happen if I just go ahead and get the knee replaced within this calendar year. The Mr. Krabs in me loves to save money. Still, the more rational side of me says that the pain is not even close to being a quality of life issue, and I should just mellow out on the whole topic of saving money. My leg is unpleasant at times and has been getting worse over the past six months or so, but I plan to live well past my mid-seventies and personal longevity means that I would in all ...

My health insurance changed this month. I’m insured through my wife’s work and the policies provide both primary and supplemental coverage. The previous company through which we were insured offered a good primary policy, but this new insurance company is even better. They offer more coverage for less money, so yay. In the years before my motorcycle accident my wife and I only had health insurance for a couple of years, back in the 1990’s. We didn’t even have insurance when my daughter was born and we ended up paying the hospital debt for years. We went to doctors during the time that we did have insurance and I even had surgery performed on one of my fingers, but the insurance coverage back then became too expensive and we dropped it. Our age always kept us fairly confident against any major issues with our health, and most of our medical problems over the years were handled by going to walk-in clinics. We hadn’t signed up for the available health insurance at my wife’s current place ...

One aspect of my motorcycle accident that I never really talk about involves money. My lawyer initially said that my case had the potential for a substantial payout. The other driver was completely at fault, she had insurance, and I had a multitude of injuries. Several of those injuries involve lifelong complications and care. I pay monthly for doctor visits and medicines that are all directly related to injuries sustained through the accident, and I have been told that I will require further surgery in the future. Financial compensation time right? Wrong. I had medical bills from the initial care that made the available insurance coverage amounts seem like pennies in a jar. The problem was twofold: (1) The insurance companies granted payments that included the maximum amount of coverage for which they had agreed to pay within the policies. They did not hesitate at all to pay the full amounts, but their “good faith” payments involved everything for which they had contracted to pay. As ...