Thank god that I'm employed

[itsallovernow]

Not that I don't normally feel that way, but I got the bill for my four day cruise at Cedars.

$10,000.

That's right, ten thousand dollars. It makes me laugh, with that grating edge of hysteria in the back of my throat, just to say those words out loud.

For me to sit and watch TV, and talk to Yeti the IV, and Ed the fantabulous nurse and have my friends paint my feet with henna, and long for the ambien and choose my meals and talk on the phone and be freaked out of my tiny mind.

I... gah, I'm appalled. And grateful. My insurance will cover it completely. Let's not get me started on how much I hate my doctor, or the fit I threw in his office when he told me the clinic wouldn't be covered under my insurance because he, himself, didn't make the referral. Nevermind the fact that he never responded to either the ER page, or the hospital page, that his office never called to check in on me, and that they still hadn't read - or even requested - my frelling hip x-ray. He'd never heard of the Coumadin clinic, didn't see why I wouldn't come get my blood drawn at his office.

He made me cry, hot angry tears of frustration and humiliation, and so I told the insurance I wouldn't go back to him. Ever. They had to find me a new doc.

And, I'm lucky. I have insurance. I have an HMO, but I have insurance.

This doesn't much affect my health or my lifestyle. But if I wasn't this lucky, well, what the hell would I do? How do people without insurance cope. Will, and blind luck, and please whatever deity I believe in don't let me get sick or hit by a car, because even if they take care of me in the hospital, I can't afford the follow up care.

Comments

[electricland.livejournal.com]

Oh my good Lord.

*hyperventilates at the thought*

I second the motion. Three cheers for employment for you!

Also, boo hiss to your doctor: the least your HMO can do is make itself useful and find you a good one. Jeez.

[thassalia.livejournal.com]

The HMO spent an hour on the phone with me finding a female doctor who was taking new patients. I am not displeased with them, so that's something:)

So, oh yeah, employment just rocks!

But I just get sort of gobsmacked by the thought of what people do without insurance.

[cofax7]

45 million Americans. And if they don't have insurance they don't go to the doctor until it's an emergency, which costs more in the long run than preventive care does. And then they can't pay it, so they file bankruptcy or the state covers the bills. Neither of which is good for the overall economy. Or they get no care at all.

Lovely.

SO glad you have health insurance. 10,000! Holy cow!

[thassalia.livejournal.com]

And then they can't pay it, so they file bankruptcy or the state covers the bills. Neither of which is good for the overall economy. Or they get no care at all.

Exactly! I have to admit that I still largely live like this do to my days of being uninsured. I don't ever go to the doctor unless it's an emergency. But I have the luxury, now, of going.

Health insurance, health care, should be something that we as a country are doing more to ensure. And ensured or not, I firmly believe that we need to make a stand for preventative health care and not simply better, faster drugs. I don't believe that the pharmeceutical companies making a killing is the answer to health care.

[raithen.livejournal.com]

you knw, I concur on the eep factor. And I am TOTALLY in support of universal healthcare. But I must say that I think it might do a few Canadians good to actually SEE the bills for their care. To understand just how much is being provided for them in exchange for their tax dollars and income indexed annual fees. Then maybe there would be less bitching and moaning about the state of healthcare in this country, and less clamoring for a private alternative (read: two tier healthcare, or the thin edge of the wedge).

*steps off soapbox*

[jenlev.livejournal.com]

argh. *headdesk* and glad you're ok and that you have insurance. it's so odd how money gets spent in this country, the priorities are severely wacked. we have so much plenty in this country, but it's not shared in a way that makes sense to me. i worry about what this says about our society. *sigh*

ps. but i'm still in a prolonged farscape squeee. trying to find joy anywhere i can. ;)

[elishavah.livejournal.com]

Holy hell. ::hugs Thea:: Yay for insurance. At times like these, it doesn't matter what kind it is so long as you have it.

One of these days the system is going to wake up to the fact that it's broken and that paying more at the front end means paying less over the long haul and, dammit, everyone will be covered for the things that are necessary.

[thassalia.livejournal.com]

One of these days the system is going to wake up to the fact that it's broken and that paying more at the front end means paying less over the long haul and, dammit, everyone will be covered for the things that are necessary.

I so hope so. I mean, I know how lucky I am - in terms of having health care, in terms of having access to good facilities, and in terms of dealing with something that's pretty minimal if taken care of (despite all of my bitching). But for someone without insurance, this could have been an emotional and financial nightmare. And people face worse things all the times with out the financial support to buoy them. How can your body recover if the stress of paying for your health care is riding in your body constantly?

[barkley.livejournal.com]

It's funny, I never really cared much about health insurance until about five years ago. I was rather lax in letting it go between jobs, and it didn't start up until three months into my current job, and wouldn't you know it, in those three months was the one time someone wanted to send me to the hospital. And my treatment that I chose (i.e. no emergency room visit) was dictated by my financial situation. Go free samples of drugs and a really swell doctor, and a rather uneventful (albeit painful) kidney stone.

From then on, I became a believer in not ever, ever letting my insurance lapse again. The very next day, I retroactively paid the $1800 in Cobra to my old job and they let me keep it up which was worth it for the remaining month because I realized then how something so silly could wipe out a bank account in a day.

And it's just rather scary because I'm in a better situation than most, and I can usually afford it, but that experience really made me think about it.

[thassalia.livejournal.com]

I have to admit, this is the first time I've just been bowled over by the whole finanical/health thing. My mother used to freak when I'd be blase about the whole insurance thing, but then I 've only been in the hospital once and twice to the ER when I was a kid, don't get sick, so I never really thought about it being an issue.

Now, well, the fact that my work helps me to pay for it, that I can afford it, well, it's pretty astonishing to me.

[lem0nb0mbs.livejournal.com]

How do people without insurance cope.

Medicaid. Which is then managed by an HMO. So, basically, same deal, same frustration. Makes taking your vitamins and operating safety-first 24/7 a lot more appealing than it did when we were kids.

[thassalia.livejournal.com]

Makes taking your vitamins and operating safety-first 24/7 a lot more appealing than it did when we were kids.

God, isn't that the truth?

[haphazardmethod.livejournal.com]

$10,000. Yes, bless the insurance.

[thassalia.livejournal.com]

I'm well on into loving my insurance right now:)