"Freaking the 'danes": In fandom, the deliberate exhibition of extreme fannish behavior before "mundanes" (non-fans) for the specific purpose of eliciting incomprehension and social discomfort. (See: bear-baiting.)

With eight separate phone numbers registered to the two members of this household, it's not surprising that -- despite those numbers' presence on the National Do Not Call Registry -- we get more than our share of telephone solicitations. Most of the time, they're phishing scams telling us we can "lower your interest rates" if we give them our banking information immediately; the rest of the time, they're split between trying to get us to change our telephone, Internet, television, gas, and electricity providers.

Until yesterday.

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On Tuesday, Brian Bosh (@bosh) tweeted, "Do you (as a #diabetic) avoid publicly announcing extreme blood sugars for fear of discrimination regarding future coverage? #bgnow private."

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Like most companies around the country, mine is in the middle of open enrollment. Which means that now is the time of year when we choose our benefits for the coming year.

Naturally, there are changes and cost increases. That's just the way it goes -- even in a good economy. I feel fortunate to work for a company that provides much of the premium costs for my health insurance. Just for premiums for me and the kids I'll pay around $350 per month. And I get that that's cheap considering other people's circumstances.

Anyway. One of the cool things is that our insurance pays preventive care at 100%. So annual physicals for me and the kids, my well woman exam, etc. don't require a co-pay. Which is pretty cool.

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Once a year my company offers health screenings -- free -- and an incentive (such as a gift card) for taking the health screening. I think it's a great idea for companies to do this because there are plenty of stories about people who don't go to the doctor enough and then go through a health screening at work and discover that they have diabetes or high cholesterol or that they're this close to having a heart attack.

That's great. But I don't participate mainly because I already know what's going on with me. I see my OB once a year, I see my primary once a year, and I see my endo every three months complete with blood work. There is nothing that a health screening can tell me that I don't already know. In fact, it would likely do nothing more than piss me off because someone with little knowledge of diabetes would be telling me that I test too much or questioning the validity of a CGM.

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I'm really frustrated today. Not because of blood sugars (which have stayed between 110 and 140 all day) or insulin or any of those other details of this disease. I'm frustrated because I can't change doctors without completely stressing out my life.

I received a suggestion from my old pediatric endo about a doctor in town, so I checked the insurance to make sure I'd be covered. And sure enough...he's not on my acceptable provider list. Even if I wanted to pay out of network, I can't. Some rule about providers being within 75 miles of my home and I'm not on a PPO.

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I have to say that I was a little stunned last week when I found out that my insurance company had changed its policy regarding continuous glucose monitors. While I don't know exactly what that means yet, it's likely that the change will be in my favor (i.e., no more of this "disposable coverage" BS). At least, I hope.
 

One of the benefits my company offers is the use of a health company that advocates on our behalf for things like figuring out what you may owe after a hospital stay or what gets applied to your deductible. Basically, these people are in the health-care trenches and can help you sort out any issues or problems you're having.
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