Oh, I forgot one aspect of our screwed up health insurance system... I developed a little pain in my lower back during a 10 day "driving" vaction... Heck, I drove close to 3000 miles in those 10 days so I called me doc... He saw me and sent me to a specialist who did an MRI and it was established that I had very minor degeneration in a couple of my discs, prescribed physical therapy and after 4 visits I was fine...

Here's the kicker... When our current insurer went up yet another $200 a month this past year we shopped around... We found anotheer company who quoted us $1700 a month!!!

We were flabbergasted so we asked them why it was so high and were told it was because of the disc problem... Problem is that the specialist said it was very minor and not uncommon for a man of my age to have some minor degeneration... In other words, this insurer was going to try to *rip me a new one* because I had bothered to tell my family practictioner about the pain, even though it turned out to be nuthin'...

Now I am hesitant to even go to the doctor for anything 'cause it will give the insurers ne ammo to raise my rates... There is something drastically wrong when a population is held "hostage" by health insurance companies...

Grrrrrr!!!

B~