medical insurance by medicare, more is revealed

After getting a postcard from Medicare informing me that my open enrollment is from now until December 7^th (Pearl Harbor Day-WTH?), I skimmed their website and quickly concluded I would need to call to get comprehensible information.

It turns out that my open enrollment is January to March of 2012. If I do signup then, I will have health care insurance starting in July. Not the quickest process around, but vastly more affordable than paying retail on the open (protected oligopoly) market place. That greatly simplifies the decision making process for the next 4 months.

I did participate in a chronic pain reduction study today. Today’s process was a 2 mAmp DC charge with electrodes about my left ear and on my right temple with an unknown voltage. It was slightly uncomfortable during the first 10 minutes with a slight burning/prickling sensation during the 2 mAmp phase. The second 10 minutes was with a 1 mAmp current that was nearly undectable after the first burn-in.

There was a minute where my chronic pain was completely gone. I can’t tell what is from the treatment and what is from a placebo effect of having a technician plug in a bunch of electrodes and act busy. Either way, for a while there, my chronic pain was gone. My homework assignment was to determine what lasting effect there might be hours later. The pain is less than usual almost 12 hours later.

I am grateful to know that I will presumably have healthcare insurance in the second half of next year. Right now, I am grateful that my chronic pain is less than usual.