In theory, a high-deductible insurance plan combined with a medical savings plan seems like a good idea. However, the current health system makes this kind of plan very difficult to use. I had this type of plan for many years - my employer offered a Blue Cross plan with a $1000 deductible, and I had the option of contributing to a pre-tax medical savings account if I wished.

The biggest hassle for me was not knowing how much my health care would cost. I needed to see a gynecologist, so I called several of them to find out the cost of an office visit. No one would tell me. So I went in, saw the doctor (for a total of 6 minutes) and a few weeks later, got a bill for $750. This was the "uninsured person" cost of the visit. I submitted the bill to my insurance company, and after several phone calls and negotiations, got the cost down to $380. This seemed like a huge amount of money to me, but I had no idea if this particular doctor was cheap or expensive - if I could have paid less if I went to a different doctor - because no one would tell me the price. And every doctor's bill, every medical test, meant several rounds of paperwork and making phone calls, because the initial price was never the real price. Sometimes the initial price I was charged was 5-8 times higher than the final price I paid, and I still didn't always get the lowest "discount price" that insurance companies get routinely.

Then the doctor wanted me to come back, to "check to see how things were going". Again, I couldn't get a price, so I didn't know what it would cost me. The doctor seemed to have no clue that every time he called me back in, I'd be paying hundreds of dollars. I'm used to budgeting my money, and it was very hard to go to the doctor and have no idea what I might have to pay in the end. I was reluctant to go to the doctor for preventative care, because I didn't know how much the final cost would be - just getting a prescription for birth control pills cost me almost $1000 because the doctor kept asking me to come back for additional visits (at $300+ each) to "check up on my progress". If I'd known that going to the doctor for a checkup would cost $100 or $250 or even $500, then I could plan and budget for that, but having no idea, and wondering what I might eventually have to pay, made me very reluctant to go to the doctor unless I was really sick. Even after the $1000 deductible was met, there were more costs and more uncertainty - some things were covered, some things were not, I had to pay some things out of pocket, and even when I called the insurance company to ask, they seemed to have no idea (until AFTER I'd gone to the doctor and incurred the cost).

If high deductible insurance is going to work, then doctors (and hospitals and testing centers) have to be much more clear about what you're going to be charged. This system of starting out with a price that's 5-10 times higher than what you really have to pay, and never knowing what something will cost until after you've gone to the doctor, makes health insurance even more difficult and frustrating than it already is.

If you must tell her - and it seems like you feel you have to - don't treat it as seriously as Cary suggests. His approach makes it sound much worse than it is, and it would make me wonder if people were talking about me all over the web.

But who hasn't googled their name in a moment of boredom, or the names of old friends or classmates? Sometimes it's funny what pops up - whether it's accurate or not. You might mention casually in conversation that you googled yourself and found something funny, or weird, or unexpected. And then see if she brings it up herself. If she does, you can talk about it. If she doesn't, then she probably doesn't want to talk about it, and you should drop it.

But don't treat it as if it's a deep dark secret out of a Tennessee Williams play.

It's a shame that the original Hairspray isn't easily available on DVD. I'd love to see them both as a double feature - I can enjoy one as a wacky John Waters comedy and the other as a Broadway musical reinterpretation. I don't mind comparing the two, but it seemed like Stephanie's main criticism is "it isn't like the original" rather than "there are specific problems with this movie". Why can't we have both?

I love musicals, and for me, the addition of musical numbers is what makes this version of Hairspray stand apart. I'm sure there will be differences from the original Hairspray, and maybe some things that aren't as good - but the original didn't have the musical numbers (in the same way) so I'm looking forward to seeing the new version - as an addition to the older one.

(I'm always frustrated when movie critics go to see musicals and complain that they contain "show music". It's like complaining that a comic movie contains comedy, or a dramatic movie contains drama. An adaptation of a Broadway musical contains music in the Broadway musical style. Everything doesn't have to be rock or rap.)