My mantra about the power of choice was put to the test today. I got fired by my health insurance carrier for late payment. In my total immersion in my latest book project I completely lost touch with the end of month deadline until today, when I realized it was now the 2nd. Well aware of the sticklers they are about requiring check payments to be postmarked no later than the final day of the month, I grabbed the phone to call the COBRA manager. I explained to her how I had forgotten and was prepared to pay over the phone with my credit card. “I’m sorry. Your coverage has been canceled,” she said.
“What!? Canceled!?” I knew I had pushed the envelope yet I didn’t expect the door would be slammed in my face so quickly.
“Yes,” she replied in a tone that told me I was not the first person she’d had this conversation with. She had been trained to not say much.
“Is there anything I can do?” I asked.
“No. I’m sorry.”
My instincts told me there was no fighting this and I graciously hung up the phone. I whipped out my choice to believe that this event was happening for my higher good. My rates had gone up substantially for this coverage that I rarely used and I had been dragging my feet to get another plan in place. Now I’m being forced to do that bit of homework. My next call was to the insurance broker I’ve engaged to asked him to send me the application we’d been discussing. As we explored my other options, he reminded me of a benefit I could take advantage of if I had plans to partner with someone in my business. How interesting that this would come up as I have recently begun talking with a friend about partnering on a couple of projects.
I received the online insurance application and immediately got busy with it. The quick quotes provided showed that I could expect to save a good $100 a month from what I had been paying. My friend and potential business partner happened to call me in the middle of all of this and it expedited our conversations about our projects in a big way.
So here I am now, fully aware that I am running around without health insurance. (Mom, I hope you are not reading this.) Irresponsible? Maybe. But am I at peace? You bet I am. You might wonder how I can possibly be at peace knowing that I’ll be up the creek if something happens to my body. My peace is a result of my choice to believe that something good is going to come from this little incident. I choose to believe that everything will be okay until I get set up on the next program. And hey, it just hit me that I’m saving $351 in the interim.
Am I advocating a choice for no insurance? Absolutely not. What I am promoting is the control that you have in how you experience life through your choices. I know that it is possible for something to happen that will require me to have medical attention in the coming days. I choose to believe it won’t. This choice enables me to sleep at night and be at peace. Yet who knows? I may require emergency attention tomorrow which will have proven me wrong. But that doesn’t take away the night of peace I gave myself.
Digging for Meaning 