When it rain, it poors (warning: Whining rant)

But a routine procedure like SC's would have been taken care of without any hassle. That's the problem with our system. Most simple procedures cost way too much and there's the added pressure of having to deal mountains and mountains of insurance red tape just to get some teeth pulled.

If you have time watch the program mentioned above.

 

I think the bigger question is how the hell she got three cavities? Do you brush with cane sugar?

 

Double check this for sure. My last two wisdom teeth (impacted) had to be cut out by an oral surgeon. My medical insurance covered everything, not my dental.

 

Saw that too and it was interesting. I thought the Switzerland experience was noteworthy because it was not that long ago that they had a system very similar to ours, until they switched to a universal care system in 94--the same year when we tried but failed to do so with the Clinton plan.

14 years later nobody in Switzerland has any interest in returning to the former free market system, meanwhile dissatisfaction with the US system has only grown far worse since then.

 

A few years ago it looked like my messed up wisdom were going to have to come out and an oral surgeon would have to do it. I called my dental insurance co to see what they would cover. Since an oral surgeon was going to do it, they told me to contact my medical insurance co. When I did, they told me the dental insurance should cover it. I went to our hr person to ask her what she thought and she said that in her experience, the two companies would keep saying it was the other one's responsibility and I should just expect to get screwed. Nice.

I ended up not getting them out then and still haven't, but I'll need to have them out someday and I'm not looking forward to it on a lot of levels.

 

I shake my toothless wisdom head. You know nothing about the abyss older /limited income/ uninsured/underinsured folks face until you have had to screw up the courage to press the play button and listen to the voice asking for a return call 'as soon as possible' regarding results of a recent MRI. A dangerous medical diagnosis is a snake strike to your core regardless of insurance issues, but facing that issue with weak insurance coverage in the US drains the blood from your thoughts and concerns for your surrounding family and abilities to afford possible treatment. I laugh at apologist numbnuts who parse the issue to technical 'HMO coverage' issues. My experience (ranging cadillac coverage to none) is that the present US system is a corporate profit predator that is indifferent to the deathly harm it will inflict on you. Perhaps you are young and generally healthy and think you can afford sluff off the issue of our broken, predatory US system, but I guarantee your opinion will change when you have to press the 'play' button where the ten- second voice dictates fate of you or your wife, or mother. I hope things go well SC.