Happily Ever After

For at least ten years, Ed has used a dental appliance for sleep apnea. We don’t know if it’s because he had so much surgery for so many years that he cannot tolerate a mask on his face and absolutely refuses to use a C-Pap machine, so somehow we found out about the dental thing that, of course, is not covered by insurance and cost around $500.  The first several he had hardly lasted a year so we were paying more for that than for a family gym membership.  I first read that they were covered on insurance in the Senior Sampler in St. George several years ago but when we called the insurance company and asked our dentist, both answered “no”.  So we bought more appliances at $500 each. Just before Christmas last year, there was an ad in the paper for a place in Salt Lake that promised they were covered by insurance. Ed was so happy to go to a place he had seen advertised on TV. I think he felt like a movie star. Depending on your insurance, your share of the cost is $40 or 20%. They take a mold of your mouth and make the appliance to fit. Ed only had to pay $40 and DeRay said it was the Cadillac – When they went to pick it up, it was so big and sturdy that Ed couldn’t even get it in his mouth so they had to order another one. “A Plymouth,” DeRay says. He decides to get one too since they are only $40 and he wouldn’t have to monkey with his breathing machine when he travels. He ordered a “Chrysler” – somewhere between the Cadillac and the Plymouth. He wishes he had got one like Eddy’s. It’s too much of a mouthful. Ed loves his. I don’t know what they do with the one that doesn’t work. Does insurance still pay? Anyway, this is the best part: Because DeRay told Karen about it and her daughter, Kathi, ordered one, he gets a $50 gift certificate to Wall*Mart. “Well, Eddy referred me,” DeRay tells them, "so he should get a gift certificate too." “Sure.” So, neither one has paid a penny and when they go back in next week to have them adjusted, they will subtract the $80 and give them a gift certificate for $20. And they all lived happily ever after and all through the house not a snore could be heard.