I think I have mentioned that we are extremely lucky to have great health insurance. Peanut and I each have insurance offered through our jobs, and after a lot of research 18 months ago, we went on his insurance. It's a high deductible plan, but after that costs were covered at 100% - and his employer pays the entire premium. It's a major company so almost anywhere we go is considered in-network.
It was hard to swallow the idea of shelling out a few thousand dollars before we got any coverage at all, but wow, did that wind up being a great decision when we had a child in the hospital whose stay cost almost $10,000 per day. If we had gone with my company's health insurance, we would have been on the hook for 20% of that. I feel bad for the other employees who now have to pony up more money for their health care. It's a risk I'm sure Peanut's boss was willing to take because he employs mainly young guys who don't go to the doctor very often. And I'm so glad it's a risk he took, because it allowed us to get the very best care for our daughter and not go bankrupt in the process.
I'm a huge proponent of state medical assistance (mainly because I'm a caseworker). I know that some people get very persnickity about "entitlement programs", but to me, quality medical care should be a basic human right for everyone.
ReplyDeleteA lot of states (including my own) have special policies that can help in a medical emergency situation. In my state, it's called "Spend Down". Say a 3 person household has $4000/month in income, but the income limit for medicaid for that size family is $800/month. If that family has $13,000 in hospital bills, they would end up being responsible for $3200 ($4000-800), and Medicaid would pay the remaining $9800.
$3200 is still a huge bill, but much less painful than the full $13000