The Botox-Blue Cross Conumdrum
Private wrinkle profiteering

Who doesn't love their Botox?
    Who minds a little pain?
The needle jabs, the nausea –
    Without some pain, no gain.

Why stay wrinkled like a raisin?
    You can be a prune.
Not as it was in the box,
    but after it's been stewn.

Side effects? Rarely fatal
    unless you overdose
Trying to be wrinkle free
    when viewed from way up close.

Droopy eyes like Peter Lorre's?
    Relatively rare,
As is the guarantee you'll look
    half as good as Cher.

The bigger risk is health insurer
    underwriter fears
That anything that Botox hides
    later reappears –

That pre-existing situations
    or weird off-label use
That Allergen points doctors to
    could lead to its abuse.

And strong Blue Cross suspicions
    and underwriter "Holy Smokes!
This could could be expensive!"
    Guess whose plan Blue Cross revokes?

Bob Carlson
www.politicalboondoggles.com
10/3/09

To 'Avaricious Drugmakers'
To 'Prive Health Insurers'
To 'Botox maker sues FDA'
To 'Botox Side Effects'