Are you in good hands?

Am I the only person on the planet who doesn't understand insurance?

We just recently got something from work about updating our disability insurance coverage. 

Yeah...I'm pretty sure I didn't even  know I *had* disability insurance coverage, much less how much it is and even less than much less, when/if/why/by how much I should update it.

I swear to you that the words "deductible" and "copay" send me into a catatonic trance.

_______________________________

See? I just totally blanked out there.

You know what else I don't understand? Medical billing and health insurance.  I mean, I have it...that's about the extent of my knowledge.  The other day a friend of mine was going on and on about how her insurance was trying to screw her because they were saying she hadn't met her deductible (___________...sorry) and the doctor's office sent her a bill and it was a shitload of money.  So she pretty much spent a whole day on the phone with the doctor and the insurance company getting it straight and faxing them paperwork and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah (I understood about half of what she said).

Really??? You spent your time doing that??

Because if I get a doctor bill and I have insurance, I don't pay it.  

What?

That's what insurance is FOR, am I right? I pay for insurance so I don't have to pay for doctors and check-ups and shit.  Basically, I pay the insurance company to write checks to the doctor. Like they're my own private little accountant who's in charge of handling all that business.

And then when I get a second or third bill (or perhaps a collections notice) from the doctor's office, I generally pay it....because obviously my insurance accountant chick is out on vacation! And really? The insurance company should be paying ME in those cases for doing HER job.

Just kidding...I have a vague understanding of insurance. It borders somewhere between my knowledge of Tao Te Ching and the geography of the former Soviet Bloc....but hey, it's something.


Okay, okay, I *do* sort of understand insurance.  It, unfortunately, happens to be one of those "adulty" things you have to learn when you get kicked off your parent's insurance after college.  But it's totally a pain in the ass, am I right??
 
Maybe I should just re-read the Tao Te Ching and I'll feel more zen about insurance.  Probably not.