My ex-wife thinks I’m stupid. Okay, that, in and of itself, is not unusual; lots of people think I’m stupid. And when we’re talking about the perceptions of ex-spouses, I’m sure the incidence of perceived stupidity is high, but my problem is that my ex is pretty smart and so when she calls me “stupid” I have reason to pause.
Pause.
Okay, I’m not stoo-pid (“…and I’m good enough and doggonit, people like me!”). What I am is a person who is unable to wrap his mind around insurance (and assembling shelves from IKEA).
Really smart people can read schematic diagrams with ease or hear presentations from the Blue Cross/Blue Shield guy and discern what plans make the most sense.
I, on the other hand, am confused as soon as I read: “The party of the first part coveted to convey its entire interest in the subject real property to the party of the second part.”
And that’s not even a legal brief; those are the instructions for the nightstand I bought.
Where I really get confused, and where my ex-wife thinks I am several tickets shy of a packed house, is when it comes to understanding insurance.
Our youngest son was born with some problems in both of his ears. He can hear, but does not have the full spectrum of response in either ear. We are way past “tubes” and this is a case of some inner ear apparatus never having fully developed. He has had two operations where cartilage has been grafted from one area into another to close gaps, but so far, nothing has been 100% successful and so he is going in for another.
Without going into unnecessary details, I simply do not understand what is covered, to what degree, how deductibles are met, what medications my insurance covers, and why I pay so much in premiums to have so little covered.
My ex is a dentist 
and perhaps there was a medical coding and billing class included in the curriculum and so this is second nature to her; the problem comes in explaining all of it to Gabby Hayes and for Gabby to ask questions that don’t annoy her.
This is not a post about the high costs of medicine or an indictment of health insurance companies (or my ex-wife); this is a post about how important matters have become so complicated that it takes a doctorate to understand them.
“If insurance is the only way to offset astronomical health costs,” (again, to myself), “is it fair that we need an industry in between the insurance companies and our best interests to interpret and define what is out there?”
The answer is probably “yes,” but that doesn’t solve the fundamental life issue I am trying to explore here: How did we let things get so complex?
I usually begin writing with a thought already in my head and this windup has been somewhat rhetorical. I do have a meta-physical idea as to why our lives have gotten so complex.
It is because of….our FEARS.
The fear that we will be killed. Or hurt. Fear that we will lose, be lied to, forget, taken advantage of, exploited, cheated, cajoled, left out, left in, left to die, left to live, given less, too much, starved or drowned.
We are afraid and so we create provisions, instructions, diagrams, briefs, and orders to clarify, explain, disclose, divulge, divest and disclaim, everything and anything that could confuse, confound or confute in order to placate and protect our interests, needs, investments, wants and….fears.
Fear is a vital, emotional response to perceived danger, and it’s important. If we didn’t
feel fear, we couldn’t protect ourselves from threats. It is as primal and integrated into our being as anything can be, including hunger, thirst or our need to be loved.
Fear may occur in response to anything perceived as a risk to health or life, status, security, or even wealth and anything held valuable.
For this reason society (particularly an advanced industrial one) creates a matrix of systems designed around assuaging our fears. So tax codes and insurance programs have become complex to navigate around lawsuits, counter suits, and claims so that we (we, meaning you, me, government and insurance companies) have the least amount of exposure to myriad vulnerabilities.
But, this is where I get scared because with increased complexity comes increased confusion and consequences.
Just the other day I read a post from a friend who did his own taxes (God forbid) and made a small $60 mistake. The IRS has descended on him with threats of withholding income and property liens.
I guess he should have called H&R Block.
Another friend recently called his attorney and is in the middle of translating legalese to understand insurance-ese because in the fine print of his health insurance agreement his condition required another opinion that he never got.
Apparently, the profuse bleeding led him to make a hasty decision.
And I got an earful when I asked my ex-wife if she was using my insurance to get medication for our son because it was my understanding that the plan I chose had a co-pay that would only be $2 instead of $75. Apparently that is only for generics in a 3 tier prescription drug program that I didn’t understand.
But, I am kind of stupid that way.
