The delicate balancing act

I'm caught in a real dilemma here. Today I got my long awaited $600 "economic stimulus" check from the government. I also got an "EOB" (explanation of benefits) from my health care provider detailing some of my recent medical expenses incurred, among them my recent surgery on my left index finger. When you subtract the anesthesia, which I can pay myself separately, the total cost that I will have to pay is $786, not really bad, when you consider that the insurance was billed $1783, of which $997 was denied by the insurance company. However, here's the thing: I could nearly wipe out that entire balance by using my $600 stimulus check...or I could use it instead to go on a much needed and much desired vacation and pay off the surgical bill little by little instead. I'm so torn as to what to do. I want to wipe out this bill and get it over with, but I also want to go on vacation this summer. It's such a tough decision. I know that I should do the right and practical thing and just use it to do what nearly everyone else I know is using theirs for, and that's paying down debt or paying bills or whatever. Hardly anyone I know is using theirs for anything frivolous. Not in these tough economic times. Everyone's feeling the pinch and no one I know is running out and buying some outrageous thing they don't need. And anyway, this money is being borrowed from China, so we as a country will eventually owe all this money back - with interest, meaning we'll all eventually be paying back what we got and then some. Seems kind of foolish if you ask me, but I'm not one to turn down free government money, especially at a tough time like we're going through now.

Still, no one is predicting a huge bump in the economy as a result of these stimulus checks. Until and unless energy costs come down (not likely), we're all going to be hurting something fierce. So anyway, here I am, stuck in this dilemma with a $600 check burning a hole in my pocket and I am at a loss as to what to do about this whole thing. The problem that I have discovered is that the provider to whom I owe the money will not allow you to see one of their doctors if you owe any balance on your account, and I may still need to see a doctor soon and I don't want to be denied access to my physicians just because I owe some kind of balance. I'm sure that they must be used to people owing balances that they cannot pay off right away - at least I hope so, anyway. With health care costs so ridiculous these days, few people can pay off their medical bills in one fell swoop unless they are either independently wealthy or win the lottery. At least I have made my deductible for the year and from here on in, my costs will be covered 100%, but in the meantime, I am going to shop around for supplemental health care insurance to cover those ridiculous costs incurred in my deductibles, since there is no chance that my employer provided health care plan will change anytime soon, and universal health care in Ohio and/or the US is but a pipe dream that will never happen in my lifetime. How very sad that this is the case, especially for the uninsured and for we who find ourselves now among the underinsured.