The Accident

A week ago today I was hit by a car. While I was walking.

It was the guy’s fault; he wasn't looking and caught me when I was halfway across his front end. I backed up as quickly as possible while placing my hands on the hood of his car since apparently I thought I had super powers and imagined I could stop a car with a hot pink manicure.

I also screamed. And no, not because I was afraid I'd chipped a nail. But in all fairness I was sort of busy trying to save my own life so I didn't get a good look until later. I was surprised that I screamed. Sometimes when I watch horror movies I wonder when, in real life, you would be forced into a scream. Apparently when you’re being mowed down by a 2001 Lexus.

I remember falling backwards but didn’t anticipate how my head would hit. I know from watching Jonathan Lipnicki in Jerry McGuire that the human head weighs 8 pounds. As I fell I was aware of my head still in mid-air while my butt touched down first. (And a lovely bruise it is, thank you for asking) I had a metal clip in my hair. The impact crushed it. The head hits hard, I know that now.

Jake, the guy who hit me, took full responsibility, gave me all his insurance info and kept repeating how mortified he was and that it was his fault. I think he'll look both ways about a million times before he pulls out into traffic again. And he forever answered my question as to whether men or women are the worst drivers.

I was worried about two things: a concussion and all the metal parts in my body. I am practically bionic, held together by titanium and steel. I could have gone to the hospital for MRI's and Cat Scans and x-rays. I would have used Jake's Farmer's insurance to cover it. However I have learned one thing about hospitals. Nobody's insurance will cover everything. They will ALWAYS find something to bill you for.

Sidebar: Someone in the health insurance business told me how to beat the system if you don't have insurance. I've used it three times and each time it has worked. Would you be surprised to know it has something to do with the government and the corruptness of hospital administrations? Didn't think so.

I don't have health insurance. Which is why I went to India. The experimental surgery I needed had not been approved in this country and wasn't until almost a year after I returned from Mumbai. So even if I had had insurance, it would not have been covered. There were other Americans there when I arrived. One was a school teacher from Arizona, a guy named Jeff. He had the best health insurance you can get. He told me he found one doctor in the U.S. doing the surgery he and I needed and he was at Cedars Sinai here in L.A. Even though the government had not yet approved it, this doctor was doing the procedure anyway! He told Jeff that his fee for the surgery was $20,000. That did not count the hospital stay, anesthesiology, rehab etc. And since the surgery wasn't covered by insurance, Jeff would have had to pay it all out of pocket. A whopping $65,000.

Jeff took his wife to India with him for the two week stay in a private suite of rooms and the total cost for them both, including airfares, his surgery, his rehab, and his wife getting some stomach flu while she was there and requiring her own private room, was $18,000.

My total was $12,000 but that's because I went into a 4 star hotel for 3 days before I checked into the hospital. I was in so much pain by then and so angry that I was going to India by myself that I hired a Canadian company to take care of all the details and they tacked on their profit.

Six months after I returned I went to my internist in Beverly Hills. I had an infected finger and I'd always heard that if you're full of metal, one of those infections can kill you. I'm probably exaggerating but I went in anyway. I told my doctor about my trip to India.

"Yeah, Medical Tourism is huge these days but I'm not surprised. All the money that people pay into our insurance system goes to administrative costs, raises, new equipment etc. None of it, NONE of it goes to helping the patient. Let's say you paid $300 a month over the last 20 years. That would come out to $72,000. And you spent $12,000 going to India for a surgery no insurance would have covered anyway. You're a genius. And you got to see India."

Because all my surgeries resulted from getting scoliosis at 13, any insurance carrier could have rejected anything I submitted by saying that it was all pre-existing. And I can't prove it isn't. They can't prove it is but who's going to win that battle?

My internist also said the biggest losers were the people who took the highest deductibles. Who uses up $5000 a year in doctor's services? My sister has never met one deductible in over 20 years. Not. One. I paid my doctor $350.00 for a comprehensive checkup. That's a little over what I could be paying for health care every single month. If I had a high deductible, I would have still had to pay for that visit.

My internist told me a story about his son. He had to have an emergency appendectomy so my doctor took him to Cedars Sinai, one of the best hospitals in California. The doctor who performed the surgery did not charge his peer a fee. The boy spent one night in the hospital because that's all the insurance and the hospital allowed on that particular surgery. My internist submitted his insurance for the stay.

He got a bill for over $20,000 with a note saying that this was the amount the insurance did not cover. He canceled his insurance on the spot and now discounts all his services for those with no health insurance. And gives me a $50.00 off coupon for everyone I refer.

And I don't have a concussion and all the metal parts are still working. So far.

End of chat.