Being a responsible adult -- the cataract story so far

 I went for my so-called “pre op” appointment this afternoon. The person, Maria, was simply an admin who handles the surgery scheduling and talks about the lens choice. She knows what she knows and no more, know what I mean? So when she said that the “better” lens would cost $3,500 per eye, that was that. Couldn’t tell me how the lens would improve my eyesight because she doesn’t know how myopic I have become and what I used to be able to see. Heck, I understand, only I really know and even I don't know what "normal" eyesight is. 

She couldn’t even tell me what my insurance was actually covering. She was formal and slightly condescending. Maybe she gets a lot of flak from people who find out how much money they are paying out of pocket. Maybe she's used to people who have loads of money or better insurance plans. Whatever. We did agree that I would have "some" kind of lens and I would have the surgery so she got busy scheduling the surgery and the appointments. I am going to get a pre test on my cornea for both astigmatism and to make sure there’s nothing behind the cornea. Apparently that requires a special test, not usually given by my regular optometrist. Is that a wasted $200 (at least it’s for both eyes)? Oh at this point I don’t know but I do want to make sure my eye is healthy. Insurance doesn’t cover that $200. If my eyes are healthy, my surgeries are August 14th and August 22nd. Recovery time is very short now, a couple of days.

Schedule in hand, there was still a long back and forth in the triangle between insurance and Maria. Maria couldn’t tell me what insurance would cover until I decided what lens I wanted but I didn’t want to decide on a lens until I knew what insurance would cover. (I can decide on the lens at my final pre-op appointment, after I’ve had the cornea test.) Luckily, in my earlier phone call with my insurance this week, the associate had told me to get the billing code and to call Aetna with it after the appointment then insurance would tell me what they covered. So I did that, got the billing code, called Aetna and got a very nice girl who knew what she knew and no more: insurance will cover all but $500 of the surgery on both eyes for that billing code. Does that include the implant I asked? Oh, said she, do you need an implant with cataract surgery? Ummm, yes. Oh, said she, well you’d better make sure that the code they gave you includes the lens or else get the code for the lens…. 

So back I went into the doctor’s office and of course Maria had at this point got someone else with her and neither of the two receptionists knew anything about billing. They suggested I call Southwest Eye’s billing office and gave me a phone number. I went back out to the lobby and called the billing office but they only handle collections, they don’t understand pricing and I should “talk to the doctor’s office.” I went back into the office and asked the receptionist if I could wait until Maria was free again. 

Twenty minutes later, she was free and I got things a bit straighter: yes, the billing code covers an implant of the bargain basement lens variety. That lens would—hopefully—enable me to see as well as I saw before the cataract. I’d still need glasses for both near and far. The $3,500 lens/eye would enable me to see near (up to I think 3 feet) very clearly but beyond that I’d need glasses to read signs. AND it would clear up any astigmatism. The bargain basement lens won’t do anything for astigmatism. 

I was doing to look up just how bad astigmatism is—it’s not really that bad if you wear glasses anyway—but Richard said tonight that I might as well go for the better lenses regardless. He says—at least tonight, who knows if sticker shock will kick in with him over the next few days—that having good eyesight is important now even if we do live to be 90 and are broke at 90 (we can always go live with Laurie at that point, her kids will all be adults, hahahahahaha). 

So that’s where I am at tonight. I am so, so tired from trying to pry information out of first Maria and then my insurance company, reining my frustration in, appearing calm and rational. I went to Starbucks before I went home and sat there with an iced latte and thought about what I wanted, how I would approach R., did I trust anybody outside of my close friends, etc., etc…. And yeah I am still scared about the surgery even though I know it’s a doddle for most people. My one friend in Phoenix had complications but Marilyn has complications over everything and besides, she had it done in Phoenix. Oh and I asked how long my surgeon has been doing this? 10 years. Every week. No malpractice suits.

So now I am going to watch something mindless and decompress. As I said, R is okay with all this for now but he’s been known to sleep on things and then change his mind. We shall see.