$437.55

[houseelf]

The out-of-pocket cost to take two INSURED children to an urgent care clinic for a strep throat diagnosis? (Remember both parents are employed at very benefit heavy organizations)

$437.55

And we still haven't met our family deductible of $900 yet. Holy *(&^. This system is going to collapse.

No wisdom, just a rant.

Kelly

[houseelf]

We put $3,000 in the pre-tax health care account for this year. It's April and $2,000 is already gone for normal stuff like contacts, birth control, dental work, and the insurance deductible/coinsurance scam that BC/BS has going. Argh. Each year we keep upping the amount and each year it is spent earlier and earlier. Really, we are one medical accident away from bankruptcy.

Kelly

I ONLY put $300 in our Flex account. :thud: What was I thinking? I'm still used to the benefits we had in Colorado -- similar to Annie's. We now have the 80/20 stuff with a $600 family deductible, I think.

I anticipate meeting our deductible by the middle of the year. I am saving all of our receipts this year because I anticipate exceeding the deduction minimum for health care expenses. A big part of this is the dental work that DD and I had done at the beginning of the year. We are a healthy bunch and I'm the only one with a chronic (mild) condition.

Kelly -- I'm sure you are checking this, but make sure your providers aren't balance billing you for the amount above the "contract amount" with BCBS -- that your 20% is 20% of the amount after the provider discount. I had that happen a few years ago with some pathology/lab stuff and my friend at BCBS said I never should have paid it.

[Sheherezade]

Ouch!! Our insurance here is more out-of-pocket than the insurance in Boston. (There, everything was covered - except the 10 buck co-pays at the office visits.) Still, it's not as bad as what I'm reading here. What makes the insurance differ regionally? Or is it just by company? Or is it just because things are getting worse each year? We had BC/BS in Boston. It was great. Here, QualChoice. I noticed a difference here right away - after my DD broke her arm at school last year, the insurance company harassed me endlessly about the details of the accident. I never told them. I'm not sure that was the right way to go, but they wanted to go after the site of the injury to cover the costs. (It was a common break from slip and fall and they wanted to know where it had occured.) I didn't think that having my insurance company pursue our new school for negligence was going to help me fitting in around here...so I just ignored them. Luckily, they stopped and we are still covered.

Sorry about the strep tests Kelly. I still maintain those should be over the counter/ at the pharmacy. (See old thread for that debate!)

someone tell me again what the perk is for marrying a doctor? something THAT basic and it costs you $437.55. Craziness!

[samssugarmomma]

Holy crap! That is un-#$^#$^-believable!!!

I'm with Jesher - where are the benefits to being married to a doc? :thud:

[Phoebe]

Qualchoice always pissed me off because they mixed me up with another person with my same name and sent me their medical bills for even a year after we moved. Now I wish we had Qualchoice because Humana is screwing us with deductibles and coinsurance. I never paid anything for prenatal care and now I have already shelled out $500.00 and I am not half way through yet.

:argue:

Jennifer

[Cumberland]

We have BC BS, but are linked to the physicians group here. If we see a physician affiliated with the hospital we pay nothing at all. If we go out of network it is 80/20. We even get reimbursed for prescription copays and things like a breast pump. We pay around $200 a month for this, pre tax. At the end of the fiscal year DH's portion ( not mine or DDs) is refunded to him, but this is the last year they are doing that. I guess we have it pretty good.

[spotty_dog]

Ouch!! Our insurance here is more out-of-pocket than the insurance in Boston. (There, everything was covered - except the 10 buck co-pays at the office visits.) Still, it's not as bad as what I'm reading here. What makes the insurance differ regionally? Or is it just by company? Or is it just because things are getting worse each year? We had BC/BS in Boston. It was great. Here, QualChoice. I noticed a difference here right away - after my DD broke her arm at school last year, the insurance company harassed me endlessly about the details of the accident. I never told them. I'm not sure that was the right way to go, but they wanted to go after the site of the injury to cover the costs. (It was a common break from slip and fall and they wanted to know where it had occured.) I didn't think that having my insurance company pursue our new school for negligence was going to help me fitting in around here...so I just ignored them. Luckily, they stopped and we are still covered.

My co-pays and premiums are going up, but overall I've been happy with Qualchoice. My premiums are still really, really reasonable for a single person. My pregnancy is covered 100%, no copays at all so far. Urgent care for a strep test was also no copay -- it's like an incentive to keep you from going to the ED ($35 copay) for small stuff. I've charged two ER visits to them (one cut, one broken wrist), and both times got that follow-up letter from the lawyers. I just provided bare bones info and that was that. For the first one there was no one to blame (stumbled into a rock in Hawaii on my honeymoon) and for the second, I had an arrangement with the gal who hit me with her car so I just glossed over the details (fell off my bike) and nobody pressed me any further. (If I'd known they would drop it after the second letter though, I might not have given them anything at all! )

Sorry about that headache, Kelly! Seems pretty ludicrous to me. Did they really both have strep at the same time? That must have been fun!

That sucks, Kelly. I'm sorry about the strep tests. How are the kiddos doing?

We have an 80/20 policy through dh's employer, but after copays, deductibles and denied charges...I figured out that the coverage was only really 40/60 (guess who's on the losing end.) Thankfully dh's employer also provides a supplemental policy that reimburses us 100% for all medical expenses that our primary insurance doesn't cover. They even pay for airfare and housing if we have to see a specialist out of the area. As long as we have that supplemental policy, we'll never have to pay a dime for healthcare....and it would take a heck of a lot to get us to leave this job!

[DCJenn]

Not that joining the Army and possibly going off to war is a good thing, but at least we don't pay for any medical care, prescriptions or tests.

Jenn

We have BC BS, but are linked to the physicians group here. If we see a physician affiliated with the hospital we pay nothing at all. If we go out of network it is 80/20. We even get reimbursed for prescription copays and things like a breast pump. We pay around $200 a month for this, pre tax. At the end of the fiscal year DH's portion ( not mine or DDs) is refunded to him, but this is the last year they are doing that. I guess we have it pretty good.

It's about the same for DH and I ... and I'm more than thankful for that now after reading about the costs some are paying!!