Week Nineteen - Financial Reassessment......

I don't think it's possible to plan ahead for a medical disaster of epic proportions.  I think that everyone knows that having health insurance is a good idea, but there is no way for anyone, layperson or otherwise, to be able to think up all of the questions that would need to be asked for every possible disease scenario.  Cancer?  Heart disease?  Rare pediatric illness requiring input from several hospitals?  How could anybody know what they might or might not be covered for for diseases they may or may not get?

Here's the general gist of how OUR plan works per visit (yours, of course, would be so different as to make this discussion almost irrelevant except for a 'heads up' about what you don't know):

Our doc: $20
Our in-town walk-in or associated specialists: $25
Our local out-of-town secondary specialists: $75
Tertiary specialists participating in our insurance: $75
Proceedures (surgery, xray, lab etc) done by local specialists: included in office visit
Proceedures done by secondary and tertiary specialists: $1,000 (yes, per visit)
Copayment for dialysis: $75 per treatment (and we "treat" DAILY).


So here's the general gist of how that works out in dollars and cents for our budget:

In December I was hospitalized and transferred to an out-of-network local hospital ($100 for ER and admission, $1,000 for other hospital)
From November to now I have not had one month go by without at least one doctor's appointment for me, all local ($45/month minumum)
In February, hubby had surgery ($25 for surgeon, $75 for anaesthesia, $45 for 2 preliminary doctor visits, and $300 in $25/visit copays for PT)
March, same for me, with slightly less PT
Don't forget dental visits for kids and us ($300) and glasses ($300)
Starting in April, no fewer that 2 visits per week with somebody somewhere for Babygirl, usually not local ($150/week)
Surgery $1,000
Dialysis training week ($75/day = 300)
Daily dialysis from August 22 - now = $900.
Ongoing dialysis costs: $2,250/month.

Current outlay for health care (not counting what I actually PAY for the health care) since November of 2010:

Roughly $6000 in out-of-pocket costs.  And I forgot medication copayments, increased grocery costs to manage Babygirl's horrible diet, gas costs for the frequent 150 mile/round trip to the secondary center, and mileage and tolls for our trips to the tertiary center.  That's all well over $650/month, and that's about to increase due to the daily dialysis to an incredible (drum roll, please....) $2900/month.

Add to this that I've been disabled and on part-time work since mid-December. I am almost out of sick time, and I had 1000 hours banked as of last November.  I also used to work a couple of days a month in the ER or walk-ins for and extra few hundred dollars/month, so that is gone, decreasing our monthly income even more.

I feel a certain nausea thinking about this. No wonder Pollyanna is having such a hard time!

DeeDee