The Dog Eat Dog World of Selling Health Insurance

Now that I'm back in the States I have to purchase health insurance. Although I didn't have to do this in the UK, I was actually walking a thin line there as the National Health Service is quite scary and many folks purchase their own plans. Luckily I never got sick! (Also never stepped in dog poop.)

I put very basic info into an online health insurance broker website and within 30 seconds I was answering phone calls and receiving emails. It was like being in a tank with Parana. I said to the first caller that I was still shopping around and he said, "Well then next time don't put your phone number on the Internet" and hung up. The next person went for the hard sell when I said I was still gathering info and possibly talking to someone locally he snickered and said, "Yeah, well, they will be locked into only one provider." Then he hung up.

The frustrating bit is that the website said NO SPAM and I didn't check the box for email offers. It must be a brutal world out there for health insurance sales people.

Another man just called me and said that he wouldn't send information because they are a non-profit and want to save money. I asked him to email information (free?) and he said that they only meet in person to make sure I don't weight 400 lbs and I am not in a wheelchair. Then he said that he's never heard of anyone who didn't want a visit. He finished his pitch by saying that they weren't going to hold a gun to my head or chain me to a chair and beat me.

This scared me. Am I having culture shock? I am freaked out by these totally aggressive sales pitches.

Deaf boy's cotton wool bud 'cure'

You may recall that in October 2006 I expertly lodged a wax earplug into my ear and Stephen had to expertly extract it with tweezers. Yes the whole experience was gross and traumatic - although I did get some excellent advice from friends and yahoo answers.

The reason I take us down this path of memory lane is that Stephen found this story on the BBC news website Deaf boy's cotton wool bud 'cure'. What is so super freaky is that the boy had this cotton stuck in his ear for nine years and the doctors said it was probably just wax. There is no report of them investigating - they concluded wax and said, "sorry son, live with it." Of course this is not an exact quote, it is my take on the situation. Even the parents thought there was something lodged in the ear.

The poor kid was quoted as saying, "I think I'll be much happier at school now my ear does not ache all the time." I feel for you. I know what you're going through.

This is what scares me most about the National Health Service in the UK which seems to be run like a third world country. In the States this could would have had some kind of x-ray or probe put into his ear to see what the heck was going on. In the UK with their assembly-line health service they just say oh well.