Slowly, then all at once

This article about Tom Scocca’s Medical Mystery: The Year My Body Fell Apart is harrowing. Something that struck me was how familiar the slow process of dealing with a seemingly non-urgent healthcare issue can be. You lose a month or two for every new referral. He doesn’t talk much about the cost of it all, even though I’m sure he’s drowning in co-pays and paperwork and bills that aren’t quite bills yet while the system works out who should be paying who how much.

In this interregnum between closing the store and finding new employment, having some sort of health calamity is one of my greatest fears. Even with insurance, it would be a disaster. Our healthcare system is so dumb and cruel.