CATARACT SURGERY, PART NINE

That's right. I'm never, ever going to stop talking about it.

Actually, maybe I will. This could be the last post on this particular topic.

My eyes are doing well, although I still need drugstore reading glasses to read. Sometimes I still see the tiny phantom bubbles, but others who have had cataract surgery tell me those can take up to six months to disappear. If they don't do it on their own, there's still the option to have my doctor laser away the film on the implant in my right eye.

On the financial end, my insurance company appears to be finally, grudgingly coughing up the money it's supposed to pay. I say "appears" because their communications are hard enough to puzzle out that I want to see the next round of bills from my care providers before I feel one hundred percent confident that I really know what's happening.

Speaking of my caregivers, heartfelt thanks to the billing people in all the various offices. Every one of them turned out to be highly competent and highly motivated to help me force my insurance to pay, firing off phone calls and photocopied records via Certified mail as necessary. I doubt this would have worked out as well as it has if they'd been any less diligent.

Although despite their efforts, it still hasn't worked out completely great. Amid all the stress and confusion of trying to get my insurance to pay anything at all, I lost sight of something. My cheap-ass off-brand self-employed person's policy has a pretty low cap on what it will pay a facility for outpatient surgery. My hospital bill for the vitrectomy and membrane peel far exceeds that limit. So I'm still on the hook for a lot of money.

Still, it's less than half of what I would have owed if the insurance company had stonewalled me successfully right to the end, so I'm grateful for that. And to today's mail, for providing the perfect epilogue to this story. My insurer is raising its rates across the board. I assume, because the service is so good.