This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

A couple days ago, I spent a few hours in wat could be called the “health insurance shadows,” and, again, there was a surprise lurking around the corner.

This:

Medicare, which is supposedly designed to provide health care coverage and health insurance for senior citizens – yes, persons like me – does not cover routine physical examinations.

Say what?

Here’s what one of my best sources, Mr. Google, says to verify this nonsense:

“As a rule, Medicare does not cover an annual physical.  The exam and any tests your doctor orders are separate services, and you may have costs related to each depending on your Medicare plan.

“Medicare covers an initial preventive physical examination for all new beneficiaries within the first 12 months of joining Medicare Part B. Medicare does not cover yearly physical exams but does cover a yearly checkup called the annual wellness visit.”

So, it seems that, if I and my doctor label a physical exam an “annual wellness visit,” it would be covered under Medicare.  The issue comes down to “medical coding.”

Somebody smarter than me should explain this to me.  It makes no sense.

Medicare should cover physical exams because they are designed to prevent future, more serious problems, which, if they were found to exist, would cost far more to address.  Prevention matters.

But, based on what’s above, I am now taking initiative to ask for a change in the “coding” of my most recent physical exam to “annual wellness visit.”

See.  I told you.  What lurks around the corner in the shadows of health insurance makes no sense.

And this additional example of lurking.

When I raised this coverage issue with my supplemental Medicare insurer, Moda Health, staff there told me they just follow Medicare rules, not their own rules.  So, I ask, why have the supplemental carrier?

My wife, much smarter than me, gave me the answer.  A supplemental insurer is standing by, she said, to cover major health issues if they happen.

Okay.  I’ll accept that answer.

Plus, I’ll stop writing now because I have to get about the business of changing the code for my recent physical exam!