Sherman R. Frederick/Properly Subversive
Sometimes it’s that random stray comment — an utterance from an everyday person — that gets you thinking.
This week my friend from high school had eye surgery to remove a cataract. This is a common procedure for people of a certain vintage. If you have not had it done, you will most likely have it done.
Anyway, I was called into temporary duty as his driver post surgery. He went in for the outpatient procedure and I sat in the waiting room eavesdropping, as journalists do.
Two Hispanic guys sat next to me. One recounted to the other his experience at the reception desk.
“They gave me the bill and they had my co-pay doubled,” he said.
“I told them I wanted the white man’s co-pay and they cut in half.”
“Pinche cabron,” the other guy said.
I smiled because I know my Mexican swear words and also because not 10 minutes earlier my friend went through the same experience. They handed him the bill.
He said that’s double the original quote.
The clerk looked at it and said:
“Oh, yeah. Our system’s been doing that all morning.”
So, it was reduced in half.
I assure you — and my Hispanic seat mate — that my friend was none too happy with his “white guy” co-pay either.
Medicare largely covers this kind of surgery, but when you dig into it, you find that Medicare covers the “basic” cataract procedure. And by “basic” they mean an older procedure that doesn’t always result in perfect vision.
If you want the better procedure, one with far better results, that costs quite a bit more on top of Medicare coverage. Doctors often recommend the newer procedure.
Look, I’m only replaying for you what I heard in the surgery center, so I don’t pretend to be an expert on cataract surgery. But it was clear in that moment that my Hispanic waiting-room friend and my “white guy” friend from high school were on the same page.
Rich or poor, brown or white, only covering the lesser procedure seems dreadfully wrong.
Someone ought to look into that.
(Apologies in advance for the awful pun in the last sentence. Feel free to utter your favorite Mexican curse word. I am going to a 12-step program for writers who can’t stop using puns. It dozen work.)
Editor’s note: To read this column in full or to read more Properly Subversive columns, please click here.
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