Even more concerning about financial ruin involves those who do not have income if they arent working. If you have an extended hospital stay from something really horrible, will you be able to pay the mortgage and utility bills while youre out of work? Will your family be able to visit you and still pay their bills if they have to be by your side at the hospital for weeks or even months?
I quit my pest control job and am now working in life and health insurance to solve these issues.
Working at the UW, we have pretty decent health insurance, but because I retiring hopefully sometime soon, I am transitioning to the VA for my healthcare.
Now, the VA does have a pretty poor reputation but so far I’m pretty satisfied. But there are some gaps in its services, and that is being able to handle urgent care. Dr appointments are made months in advance so getting to see my primary care physician on short notice is impossible. They also lack actual urgent care facilities, so if you get sick, you have to use local hospitals, and they in turn will bill the VA.
I’ve suffered from ear infections my whole life. They come around every couple of years and the pain is like someone stabbing me in the ear with an ice pick. Not fun. I’m not going to die, but it’s not a fun place to be. The VAs answer for something like this is to go to an emergency room.
So about six months ago I had pain in my left ear that wouldn’t go away. Normally I’d go to an urgent care, get some antibiotics and perhaps some pain meds, and within a day or two everything is much better. But this time, I followed the VAs directions and went to a local emergency room that had just opened up a few weeks before. The dr looked in my ear and saw no inflammation and concluded it was actually on the other side of my ear drum, caused by fluid build up. She said there’s nothing they could do. She told me to take allergy meds and Flonase for a week, and if it doesn’t get better do it for another week. It would eventually go away. Not even a pain meds prescription.
So, I tried it for a week. Didn’t get any better. Tried it a second week, nope. Week after week suffering with no relief. After six weeks I decided to go back.
Different doctor, same conclusion, but this time I spent about six hours there. They ordered a cat scan to see if there was something causing my problem. Walked out with no relief yet again.
Two days later I flew down to Sacramento to visit my daughter and within a couple days the pain went away. I removed myself from the environment that was triggering my allergies and my body healed itself.
But I got the itemized bill from the emergency room, and they charged the VA over $12,000.00 for my visit. $8,000.000 of it was the cat scan. I’m still getting individual bills from that one visit, hey, you owe us $54 dollars, hey, $186 a month later. Last bill last month was for $196. All for different parts the VA or my work health insurance didn’t cover.
So, yeah, the costs associated with our healthcare system is insane. Sorry for the long post.
We are happy to hear all is well in Casa del Bailey! I am looking forward to reading some of your fiction/horror monster mashups after your description of this series of events. Y'all have a Blessed one and take it easy!
Even more concerning about financial ruin involves those who do not have income if they arent working. If you have an extended hospital stay from something really horrible, will you be able to pay the mortgage and utility bills while youre out of work? Will your family be able to visit you and still pay their bills if they have to be by your side at the hospital for weeks or even months?
I quit my pest control job and am now working in life and health insurance to solve these issues.
Working at the UW, we have pretty decent health insurance, but because I retiring hopefully sometime soon, I am transitioning to the VA for my healthcare.
Now, the VA does have a pretty poor reputation but so far I’m pretty satisfied. But there are some gaps in its services, and that is being able to handle urgent care. Dr appointments are made months in advance so getting to see my primary care physician on short notice is impossible. They also lack actual urgent care facilities, so if you get sick, you have to use local hospitals, and they in turn will bill the VA.
I’ve suffered from ear infections my whole life. They come around every couple of years and the pain is like someone stabbing me in the ear with an ice pick. Not fun. I’m not going to die, but it’s not a fun place to be. The VAs answer for something like this is to go to an emergency room.
So about six months ago I had pain in my left ear that wouldn’t go away. Normally I’d go to an urgent care, get some antibiotics and perhaps some pain meds, and within a day or two everything is much better. But this time, I followed the VAs directions and went to a local emergency room that had just opened up a few weeks before. The dr looked in my ear and saw no inflammation and concluded it was actually on the other side of my ear drum, caused by fluid build up. She said there’s nothing they could do. She told me to take allergy meds and Flonase for a week, and if it doesn’t get better do it for another week. It would eventually go away. Not even a pain meds prescription.
So, I tried it for a week. Didn’t get any better. Tried it a second week, nope. Week after week suffering with no relief. After six weeks I decided to go back.
Different doctor, same conclusion, but this time I spent about six hours there. They ordered a cat scan to see if there was something causing my problem. Walked out with no relief yet again.
Two days later I flew down to Sacramento to visit my daughter and within a couple days the pain went away. I removed myself from the environment that was triggering my allergies and my body healed itself.
But I got the itemized bill from the emergency room, and they charged the VA over $12,000.00 for my visit. $8,000.000 of it was the cat scan. I’m still getting individual bills from that one visit, hey, you owe us $54 dollars, hey, $186 a month later. Last bill last month was for $196. All for different parts the VA or my work health insurance didn’t cover.
So, yeah, the costs associated with our healthcare system is insane. Sorry for the long post.
MWPGM Bailey,
This post got me laughin', and I thought about one of my favorite jokes:
Q: Did you hear about Captain Hook?
A: He got that arm at a "Second Hand Store"!
We are happy to hear all is well in Casa del Bailey! I am looking forward to reading some of your fiction/horror monster mashups after your description of this series of events. Y'all have a Blessed one and take it easy!