Insurance Company: Dear Mr. G, we are sorry but we have to deny your pain elimination procedure.
Me: Why is that?
IC: Our doctors have determined that other methods can be used to manage the pain.
Me: Such as?
IC: Therapy for starters.
Me: Wait, I can barely move and you want me to bend and twist and shit, things that I can’t do because of the pain?
IC: And we can control your pain via medication.
Me: If you actually have seen the reports, you know opioids in low levels don’t do shit to me and I refuse to ingest enough of that crap till I am a zombie. Perhaps you have heard about the opioid deaths across the country?
IC: Then you can have the localized injections.
Me: The ones I already had and work only for a very short time? You want me to be stabbed regularly in the back with huge needles?
IC: Mr. G, you must understand how medicine works…
Me: I know how my body works and feels. But what intrigues me is why I have to do all this crap before the procedure. It will not work, it will take probably another year and cost a shitload more than if I just go straight with the procedure. Right?
IC: (Crickets)
Me: You are just going through a fucking list, ain’t you? All boxes must be check-marked before continuing?
IC: We’ll get back to you.
I had that happen in college. Went to the campus ‘health’ center due to a lingering chest cold. They prescribed me a low level anti-biotic. I told the Dr. I had used that before and it didn’t work. He said he ‘had’ to start with that. So I want through the ‘treatment’ and continued w/ the congestion for another month +. Went back and saw another Dr. He said “I don’t know why he prescribed that to you, it says right here in your records it doesn’t work”, prescribed me the stuff I asked for the first time and was clear in a week.
Insurance policy: all expenses for diabetes maintenance will be paid.
Later, same policy: medication X [Which helps with weight loss and can prevent diabetes] must be pre-approved.
I get that the diabetes medication is cheap, and X is expensive, but maybe take a forward-looking view and help prevent it?