Insurance Hell
This was us a few years ago.
Personally we've come a long way. Nationally, we've also come a long way.
Thank you Mr President and SCOTUS for making health care possible for everyone.
The pink countertops did not make a come-back, but my egg shell colored stove hood did - WHOOP!
What would your first thought be?
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I'll have more details later, but it looks like our little family will be telling our health care horror story to the CBS National News tomorrow. I've always said we have a great story and that we are a perfect "poster child" for health care reform, and I'm proud to be able to share what we deal with daily with a country so divided on what to do.
But I will admit.. my first thought was totally "What am I going to wear?!" followed very shortly by the thoughts of toys and crap all over the living room, how I really wish I had lost that 10 lbs by now and I hope my roots aren't too bad.
Vanity, you will be the death of me.
As follow-up to my previous post about our health care debacle, the main question we keep getting from people is "what are you going to do if Lucas gets sick or hurt?" This is a question that if my good friend Chardonnay wasn't in my life, I may not be able to sleep over. What would we do?
I guess the obvious answer is that "We would pay for the little things and take pity on Children's hospital (a county hospital) for anything major.. and pray that we can get this situation resolved before we have to answer this question."
Unfortunately, it was tested today...for nothing more than infected bug bites.
Zoe had her 9 month well baby today (28 inches! 15 lbs! HUGE head!), while we were there, I asked our pediatrician to take a quick look at these bites on the back of Lucas' leg. The look on his face said it all. They were bad and needed to be treated with antibiotics.. oh, and we need to pay for a "visit" because in order to send in the Rx, he needs to document that Lucas was seen.. and thus, it was an appointment. We cringed. But hey, this is our child's health. The grand total was $76 - acceptable. Possibly better than one would expect considering I have no clue how much it is to see a doctor without a co-payment. Then it dawned on me - we have to pay for the antibiotic also... but how much could a generic prescription be??
Any takers? How much? What do you think??
I get to the counter to pick up the 'script. The woman behind the counter looks at me and says "Yea, we don't have current insurance information for Lucas on file.." I explain it's because he doesn't have any because of an illness he had 4 years ago and ear infections and we can't get him covered and yes, I'm paying out of pocket in full. She gave me a sad look and said in a tone that said she hates to be the one to break the news to me.. "It's $70.."
Sweet.
Bug bites. Infected, over scratched bug bites cost us $146 tonight. $156 if you count the bottle of Smoking Loon that I needed to get at the grocery store after shelling out the $70 for GENERIC KEFLEX. We had "the plan" in place for broken bones, an ear infection, strep throat - but BUG BITES?
I wrote a letter to Obama today. Begging for help and guidance and promises to really make a change.