Having raised two children to legal adults and still in the process of raising two more, I am well and goodly acquainted with the image of a sick child on the couch, puke bucket within easy reach and keeping one ear cocked in the dead of night for the sounds of wheezing, crying and/or retching. I am also intensely familiar with the worry of "should I take my child to the doctor or will rest, fluids and love make this better?"
We've been fortunate to have health insurance, but even still, co-pays for ER visits, urgent care visits and prescriptions are money out of pocket for us, and we try not to consult doctors for every little thing. So, when I read this line, "By changing to co-insurance, people are more aware of costs and the hope is that they'll be more careful about how they spend their [health care] dollars," said Schilmeister." in this article, Employees face 'shockingly higher' health costs, I was rather offended.
Our family eats healthy, gets lots of exercise and sleep. We try to be proactive about our health. I use homeopathic methods whenever I can (homemade chicken soup, herbal teas, lots of orange juice and apple cider) to build up our immune systems so that when the germs come knocking, it's not so easy for them to get in. We also go out of our way to play safely. The boys aren't doing things on a daily basis that would land them in the Emergency Room.
Our insurance costs will be going way up, because the HMO we were part of is no longer available. We'll have a deductible for the first time ever. The problem with this is that we most likely won't reach the cost of the deductible, so we'll be paying our healthcare costs out of pocket and a premium on top of that. It seems as though it would be smarter for us to just put the money we would spend on health insurance into a savings account and pay our own health care costs with no middle man involved.
The downside to that is what if, God forbid, I get breast cancer, or one of the kids needs to be hospitalized, or my husband is in a car accident on his drive to or from work? Then we'd meet the deductible for sure. And hospitals aren't keen on treating patients who don't have health insurance.
So, I guess, what it boils down to is we're damned if we do and damned if we don't. I'm off to make more chicken soup, at least that's affordable.
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2 comments:
I can relate to this! We're facing a LOT of health expenses since hubby's been ill, and we're so scared insurance will change on us. He's in and out of the doctor's frequently....
Like you, I try to keep our four kids healthy through herbal means, Airborne, chicken soup, orange juice, and tons of fruits and veggies throughout the day. Today is the first time anyone's experienced flu symptoms in about 6 months, and I'm hoping it'll pass quickly. :sighs:
I have autism, specifically, Asperger's Syndrome. Since I am connected in the autism community, I know that the expenses are huge. How on earth are they to pay a percentage of the therapies and supplies they need?
Then, what do I do for my own autism-related therapies?
Then, how do I pay for medical if I get another disorder like multiple sclerosis?
They would be better off paying for all the vitamins I take and giving me a financial break for my exercise.
Eileen.
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