Cheap Health Insurance Vent

[notheidi]

I have this cheap health insurance and it's really pissing me off. I am employed full time, in the healthcare industry no less, and I have this crappy $1,500 deductible, 80/20, $6,500 out of pocket maximum per year health insurance. I have never had anything so expensive.

I keep getting hit with bills. I have already hit $1,500 in copayments since January, but apparently copayments and deductibles come out of separate pots. So I am going to have to pay out of pocket for my Vanco prescription. And I'm going to have 4 days without pay this pay period because I've run out of paid time off. I don't believe I actually qualify for State Disability, because my previous job wages didn't pay in to SDI, so I will have 4 days of no money.

I have a few hundred dollars left in my FSA that will cover the Vanco, however, my company was just bought and my FSA credit card is no longer active, so I will have to pay out of pocket and get reimbursed from the new FSA.

It's like every time I go to the doctor or lab, etc, not only do I have to pay a copayment, but then I also get a bill. It's killing my finances.

I am thankful that I have health insurance and thankful I am able to pay these bills. And it's really taking a toll. Grrrrr!!!!! Even though I have the FSA, I wouldn't be surprised if the amount of my healthcare expenses in excess of what's covered by the FSA this year eventually puts me in the category of also being able to deduct some healthcare expenses from my taxes.

[NanciT]

I understand your frustration, I have watched healthcare change so much over the years, I am also in Healthcare so I am sure you see what most of us do with the insurance companies and reimbursements etc. It is difficult all the way around and I was shocked to see the changes in my PPO policy, despite reading it carefully so many things changed this year and I have so many bills coming in. One trip to the ER and here come the bills.
This illness is difficult enough, I had never been seen as a patient in an ER before CDIFF. Very frustrating!!

[notheidi]

Aw, I'm sorry you're going through this too, Nanci! It is just crazy. Maybe it's all part of the plan...making healthcare so unpalatable so we will get to a single payor system. Though I don't know if that would be better due to long wait times for specialists, etc.

In my opinion a lot of it is due to corporate greed! I could not get over that 16 vancos was going to cost me $500 at Rite Aid and $188 at costco!

[beth22]

My understanding is that liquid vanco is way cheaper than the pills. They make it up special and it costs less than $100 I have been told. The problem is that the shelf life is about 15 days or so, so for pulsing it is not so good, but if you take it every day, it is much less money. Many on the site have used it.

[Bobbie]

Many compounding pharmacies will make up the liquid Vanco for you - and so will some Walgreens a and CVSs.

I won't comment on the "new" health care except to say it is a big mistake that will make many of us pay dearly - especially "old folks" and I am one of that revered group.

[justme]

Bobbie: I agree 100% with your last comment regarding our "new" health insurance. It's costly, has a huge deductible, and limits treatments and/or payment for some treatments for those of us elderly people who use up more of the insurance than the young ones. However, single payer would be worse (see how the VA works - it would be like that all over the country). In Canada, they have raffles in some places to see who can get treatment. When we were in New Zealand, one hospital went a whole weekend with no doctors on staff or on call. Also in New Zealand, a woman we stayed with on a Farm visit told us she was finally on the list for hand surgery to repair her crushed fingers and they would call her when she could come in. She figured it would be about 4-6 months. My boss had diabetic collapse on a Med cruise and was taken to the hospital in Naples. There was one doctor for 100 patients. Patients were in the hallways, some with broken urine bags, and my boss' wife had to go outside the hospital to buy him meals and water and bring it to him because they did not serve that in the hospital. All of those instances were single payer. To work, it would have to be carefully operated and run by people who really cared about the patients. That obviously is not the case with our V.A. which is a disgrace.

[Bobbie]

I agree it is a mess. The people who go to battle to kprotect our country should get the BEST medical care. Not so. What a blot on our country's history.

[justme]

Isn't it amazing that the people who foisted this dreadful insurance on us do not have to be covered by it - and they passed it without even reading it. It makes my blood boil every time I think about it. My poor sister is having a really rough time getting her additional insurance carrier to pay the doctors bills for the treatment she had for a brain tumor. They keep sending her the bill. Everything is screwed up and no one seems to know what they are doing. It's a nightmare.

[notheidi]

justme,

I used to work for the VA. Yes, very bad experience.

I agree that single payor healthcare would have to be VERY well supervised here in the US. It's a fantastic concept, but I am also becoming very jaded and skeptical the way things are implemented.

Thanks for the ideas about the liquid vanco.

Hope all are doing well.