Take your policy and shove it.

Is there anything more heartbreaking than knowing that your mom is really, really sad and you’re too far away to do anything but call and email? For those who don’t know, my mom is profoundly hearing impaired and tackles the difficulties of being a university professor despite her hearing loss with a daily, Herculean effort. She has about 16% accuracy on the single-word portion of an audiogram. Recently, she met with a doctor who decided she was a perfect candidate for a cochlear implant, which would radically change her life. Everything was scheduled for next Thursday…and the insurance folks decided today they’re pulling the plug on the whole thing. “Not medically necessary,” they say. Unless the billing crew from her doc’s office can make some sort of major headway in the next few days, her choices are to a) postpone and keep lobbying, or b) pay the whole $50k herself. Makes me sick.

I don’t normally say/request things like this, but if you have a second, please send some positive thoughts in my mom’s general direction.