The Existential Coupon Crisis

So Doug Heffernen did what I have done too many times with my own bride - he gave Carrie a coupon for corneal eye surgery from Vision Village for, get this, "half off the second eye."  The King of Queens TV show character hoped it would finally be a great birthday present -- instead he made her blind.  I've made similar errors myself, even on our wedding day when my only job my bride would allow me to have was to book the limo, but I used a 50% off coupon I found in an ATM vestibule - and driver Jimmy "On Time" Tortilla was early to pick up as advertised but at the reception he sped off, regrettably, with my wife of 30 minutes still actually getting out of the car. You don't come back from that one. I can still hear Bridget as we were being announced as Mr. and Mrs. Cote. "What were you thinking!#?  Coupons have a kind of third row of the Stationwagon vibe. They are a deal for those who have less, but for what - lower quality? Nebraska internist Marvin Bittner's story may be an exception to that. Dr. Bitner's insurance plan wouldn't pay for his prostate cancer MRI, so he resorted to an MDSaver voucher to help pay for it which may have just saved his life. Coupons are now quite common in health payment policy. Drug companies often use them to lower the patient's copay even though insurers have fought back against this arguing coupons mess with their ‘plan design’ and agreements for covering other drugs, and may put a patient on a "less effective drug." Some employers and insurers use coupons to change our behavior, like dangling them as incentives to avoid the hospital for labs, infusions, surgeries. My wife got a flyer from the insurer for her colonoscopy a couple years ago saying if we went to their recommended GI doctor’s office the procedure would be $0 and we'd even get a $10 gift card coupon code for coffee. We unfortunately got no such claim code. We did get a $1600 bill, which is now straightened out, but the incident has me in Carrie Heffernen's camp after all these years. Coupons may have a place in society, maybe selectively in healthcare if buyers beware, but I suppose if I’m wise, they have no place in my marriage.