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Secondary IF
Insurance BS (a little vent & commiseration)
This has nothing to do with IF directly but it does because of insurance.
Back when we moved from Seattle to MN, the day we moved into our house, we went to a furniture store to buy a sofa and DH keeled over on an UGLY sectional leather sofa and thought he was having a heart attack. I had Rhayna in the Ergo on my chest, at almost 5 months old. He was saying goodbye to us, making me write down pins and passwords, etc. He was begging me to let our baby know how much he loved her, etc. He was SURE he was dying (his dad died of a heart attack).
Long story short, he didn't die LOL (how do you like that for story wrap up! HA!) and spent 5 days in the hospital. For those 5 days, ambulance ride, ER, meds, tests, monitoring, etc we were billed 35,000 (*yes, you read that right THIRTY FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS!) and didn't have insurance but were able to elect COBRA we found out later and while it cost us 1400 a mo for just him, it was obviously worth it. We got the EOB (explanation of Benefits) back and the insurance had reduced and negotiated (basically told the hospital to take it or suck it) the amount down to just over 4K...
I thank God everyday for that COBRA business (even though that's a racket too!) because look at much we would have had to spend! And that didn't include the follow up tests, Rx's, appts, etc. which were more.
Back when we moved from Seattle to MN, the day we moved into our house, we went to a furniture store to buy a sofa and DH keeled over on an UGLY sectional leather sofa and thought he was having a heart attack. I had Rhayna in the Ergo on my chest, at almost 5 months old. He was saying goodbye to us, making me write down pins and passwords, etc. He was begging me to let our baby know how much he loved her, etc. He was SURE he was dying (his dad died of a heart attack).
Long story short, he didn't die LOL (how do you like that for story wrap up! HA!) and spent 5 days in the hospital. For those 5 days, ambulance ride, ER, meds, tests, monitoring, etc we were billed 35,000 (*yes, you read that right THIRTY FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS!) and didn't have insurance but were able to elect COBRA we found out later and while it cost us 1400 a mo for just him, it was obviously worth it. We got the EOB (explanation of Benefits) back and the insurance had reduced and negotiated (basically told the hospital to take it or suck it) the amount down to just over 4K...
I thank God everyday for that COBRA business (even though that's a racket too!) because look at much we would have had to spend! And that didn't include the follow up tests, Rx's, appts, etc. which were more.
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Insurance BS (a little vent & commiseration)
How scary!
Health care costs are completely out of control. I'm always shocked at what my EOB's look like. When DD was in the hospital last fall, my insurance refused to cover one night in the room. The room alone, not including any care was $2,400. Just for the room! I'm still battling that claim, but it seems like I might be winning that one so far. It is crazy and I'm glad you had the option of COBRA. Oh, and that your H is okay.
Holy moly Sommer!!! that must have been the scariest thing ever! Yima! Oh that all our DH's will live long lives and die peacefully in their sleep!
Medical expenses are astronomical. I don't know how they think anyone could afford $35,000. It seems so crazy to me that we put such a price on life. If whatever it was that put you in the hospital didn't kill you, being saddled with $35,000 debt easily could.
That is frightening! I HATE insurance, and the games they play! Lincoln was taken by ambulance from our small hospital to Childrens Memorial, and had a TON of tests. The total bill for it all for 24 hours in the hospital was 28000 (Thousand) dollars... The end result was that he has a severe milk soy protein intolerance.
He has to be on top-shelf formula called Elecare, and insurance is denying that saying they NEVER cover over the counter products.... We happen to live in a state where there is mandated coverage on elemental formulas. When I called to argue, they asked me to find some sort of official copy of the law, and send it to them.... ummmm, A. isn't that your job, and B Would they rather pay for some formula, or a hospital stay like that every few weeks?
JERKS!!!
That rings a bell -- have you mentioned that before? Regardless, HOW HORRIBLY SCARY.
I actually had COBRA up through the month DD was born. It was the "cheapest" way for me to have maternity coverage, though I signed up for it while we were still in the middle of our TTTC days.
Wow.
Our Thanksgiving Day baby 11/22/07
Pregnant with #2 with LPD, uterine polyp/hysteroscopy, DOR (AMH = 0.17), 2 c/ps
Our early Christmas present 12/9/10