Reply #1: Thanks for the tip..

[3waygeek]

I've been dealing with a sore shoulder for some time now. It'll be interesting to see how Reid fared. Just yesterday, I finally got a diagnosis -- a slap tear of the labrum. I'm scheduled for surgery next Thursday; fortunately I have pretty good insurance, so I'll only have to pay about $50 for the entire thing.

So far, I can't say my experiences have been that different than one might see in countries with "socalized medicine" -- I've always been able to get services quickly with little out-of-pocket cost. However, I'm one of the lucky ones -- I have relatives who have no insurance at all and I've seen the hoops they have to jump through.

One cousin has MS and takes Copaxone to keep the symptoms at bay. It runs about $2500 per month, mostly covered by charity, as she works at Wal-Mart and thus has no insurance to speak of. My mom also has MS, but her Copaxone is covered by Dad's insurance, so she pays something like $50 per month. I've pointed this discrepancy out to my right-wing parents on more than one occasion, but they seem entirely comfortable with the inequality, even within our own family.