East vs. West

A friend of mine likes to say there are at least six solutions to every problem. The six might not all be logical solutions, but that's how you get to the one that's going to work for you. I had to excercise the six solution plan yesterday and must say, it seems to work!

My knee remains a problem. I saw my regular doc yesterday and rather than tell me I can run or I should stop running, she ordered an MRI and an X-Ray so that those could tell me whether I should keep running or not. That's all fine and good if you haven't recently switched your health insurance to a high deductible health plan like I did.

Anyone know off the bat what the going rate for an MRI is? Neither do I, but I'm guessing it's a large sum that I'd rather not pay out of pocket at the moment. It's a test that will help determine what's wrong, but I'll still have whatever issue it is that's plaguing my knee, but have to bid adieu to my hard-earned cash.

What to do? Roll the dice, run without knowing? Just give up running and settle into my couch and a deep depression? Run, but modify my routine, maybe sacrifice my 25k aspirations for May 9? Get the MRI and just suck up the cost? Just get an x-ray?

After nearly having a fit of rage at the most unhelpful nature of my insurance company last night - Insurance Dude would NOT tell me their contracted rate with the provider I'd scheduled to have the MRI with, even though they'd get billed for it and would turn around and bill me for it. He would only tell me the "fair and reasonable rate" for the two billing codes my MRI could have been billed as - one was $2,400 and the other $1,600. I was told "fair and reasonable" is the highest price they're willing to pay for a procedure. Because of my high deductible, I might be on the hook for as much as $2,400 for a procedure that's only going to tell me what's wrong?! If I chose to have the MRI, there's no way I'd know how much it would cost until after it was over? That's how it's done in the US!

I'm going to give Eastern medecine a try. I have an appointment scheduled with an accupuncturist. $60 a visit and it may actually help my condition!? I can always reschedule the MRI if it comes down to that, but for now I'm putting my money on the Far East.

Running is still up in the air, but with my race fast approaching, I need to figure that one out! I've run twice in the last week - 8 miles total. With a 15 mile race on the horizon, I should have been doing a long run far beyond that in mileage. So frustrating! I'm just going to suck it up and see what I can do with some help from my needle friends.