I find that it's just plain crazy that a person can pay $500 a month for a family's health care coverage with our employer paying 1/2 of the expenses for top of the line coverage and have the health insurance not cover a routine wellness exam.
It is always advised that people go in yearly for a routine physical exam as preventative coverage, isn't it? Doesn't it cost less to keep a person well than to let them become ill? At the said wellness exams you are required to attend each and every year if you doctor prescibes medications, you are to dicuss any health issues that may have arisen over the last year. Cheesehead went in for a once yearly exam (which he hasn't been in the habit of doing since we got married, this was only his second one ever) this summer. No other visits at all, so the health insurance is basically just going to waste and paying a small part of his prescriptions.
Do you know what? He is only allowed ONE wellness check every TWO years! HUH???? How does that work when you have a condition that requires meds which in turn require a yearly checkup? Am I also supposed to pay $200 for an office visit ON TOP of the $500 a month insurance???? Where does all of that money we pay go if not to care for our own health and wellness? What is the point of carrying insurance if a provider can tell you you need to have an exam, but we won't help you pay for it? Wouldn't I be better off just paying the presciption fees and one yearly office visit out of my pocket rather than paying $6,000 a year for OTHER people to get my benefits?
I am furious. I don't have the money to pay the doctor now because of the problems with selling our other house. If I don't pay the doctor we won't be able to seek treatment. What in the world am I supposed to do? While we're on the topic, why in the world does it cost $300 for a 15 minute visit and talk with a doctor anyway? (Insurance was kind enough to cover appx. $100 of the office visit)
I don't even have that much left for my family's groceries this month, not that I would want to starve the family to line the hospital's pockets or anything but....
What is a person to do when you make "too much" money to qualify for any type of assistance programs, but not enough money to pay off all of your debts? I'm trying to be an honest person and pay all of the debts I owe, but why does everyone have to be so unreasonable? I won't claim bankruptcy because I refuse to pass my debts on to other people, but I am SO frustrated it's just not even funny!!!!! Am I being stubborn or is trying to hang in there and do my best the best solution?
Right about now I just want to sit down and cry for a week, but I don't want to let on how stressed I am to the kids. They have it hard enough right now anyway. Cheesehead is working his rear end off trying to keep our heads above water and I still haven't gotten any teaching calls this year. Our house in MN is now listed for $139,900 which is the price we paid for it 7 years ago when we bought it before all of the inprovements were done on it I might add! Should I look for a new job? The last full time job I had worked out SO well (NOT!) that I'm afraid to even try again.
Sorry for the rant, I just need to vent before I explode into a million pieces. My stomach hurts now. Where's the pepto bismol?
Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Cindy
8 comments:
That sucks! It seems like many policies cover "wellness exams" at 100%...did you call the insurance and double-check? The only other suggestion I have is to call the MD office and tell them you need to set up payment arrangements. My allergist lets me pay $30/month, so hopefully your MD will let you do that (most of the time they prefer some money as opposed to no money.) Frustrating!
Cinj, that is horrible. We are in a similar situation. Pay thousands of dollars a year and then nothing, nada, is covered until you spend 1000 per person out of pocket. It stinks. Maybe Lisa is on to something. I might call my Drs office and try to make the same kind of arrangments.
Cinj, does Cheesheads employer offer different insurance programs to chose from? The Saints employer offer several different types of insurance and even at that, we must pay a deductable for procedures. He has worked on the same contract for the past 8 years but for 4 different companies and it is always frustrating to have to change insurance with each company move. Arg,,, I had a tonsillectomy back in March and the total cost to us was $150! Surely by now, all creditors have collected from us so we were very happy with that insurance. We have since changed companies so that great insurance is gone and now we are back to paying more and getting less but even at that we only pay a co-payment of $20 per doctor visit. Procedures are the thing that adds up for us. Prescriptions are at Co-payments being more for name brand and less for Generics.
Our medical system has gotten way out of control. I blame the people in Washington DC getting payouts from pharmaceutical companies in keeping the prices high. The same drugs are so much cheaper in other countries…
Does your county offer a clinic to the residents?
Maybe you can go there and pay a smaller fee just to get a prescription updated.
You may have to deal with long lines but maybe worth it to save a bit of money…
Lisa- Yes. I was very annoyed because wellness exams are only covered at 100% every other year, otherwise they aren't covered at all???? I suppose they think it's better to ONLY go when you're sick and it will cost them more money. They're sending me some hardship papers so they can review the situation we're in to make arrangements.
Deb- I really wish I could afford payments, but everything is just so crazy right now I have no idea how I will come up with the money.
Skeeter- Nope. Only different coverage percents from the same company. We can go with 50%, 70%, or 80%. We chose the 80% option. Company also offers a new feature this year which includes a health fund that our deductibles and copays should come out of. That's how the $95.xx(?) portion got covered but apparently it won't pay out for any of the "unneccessary" wellness exam. Now Cheesehead thinks he has a hernia but is refusing to go to the doctor to get it taken care of because we don't have the money to pay the bill. The same exam will be covered next year. Weird. Apparently when you set up a wellness exam to discuss health issues you've had over the last year that aren't emergencies it's somehow not covered? If he had went in because he's sick it would have been covered. ARGH!!!
That is so crazy! Our insurance program now allows us to go straight to a specialty Dr for whatever ails us. In other words, when I had throat issues, I never went to a Primary Dr. I went straight to an ENT (Ear, Nose and Throat) office. It actually saves the companies money to by-pass a Primary Doc...
I know. I think whoever is in charge of some of these companies really needs a wake up call when it comes to these issues. Why aren't they looking for ways to save monet, I mean they ARE a for-profit organization, aren't they? If they keep on at this rate everyone is going to drop their insurance and hope their family doesn't get sick.
I meant to comment on this post the other day then ran out of time. Anyway, I was going to say what you wrote about is exactly why so many people in our country don't have health insurance. They pay exorbitant monthly premiums then get nothing for them. I think the wellness clinic idea is a really good one if they are available in your area. We have them here and they get tons of use and the care is good.
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