Health insurance was a huge factor in our decision to move. By choosing to leave Microsoft, we chose to leave what I can only assume is one of the best health insurance plans offered by any company in the U.S. Everything was covered, with no copays. I know of several Microsoft families who had insanely expensive medical situations—long term hospital stays, babies in the NICU, etc—with bills that hovered close to the million-dollar mark or more, and every dime was paid for.

We knew we couldn’t expect the same situation at a different company, and JB’s new health plan will cost us quite a bit out of pocket each month. It’s not ideal, but the ability to chase down our dreams was worth it.

The problem is, the insurance doesn’t kick in for 90 days after his employment starts. Okay, so there’s COBRA, right? Except COBRA costs $1700 per month for us to continue our same coverage.

But what other option do we have? I have a monthly prescription for a chronic health condition that affects me pretty much not at all in my daily life, except I take a medication to manage it, and without the meds, I up my chances of experiencing certain progressive symptoms. You know, such as, for instance, oh, say, DEATH.

My pills cost over $2,000 per month, so it’s not really something I could pay out of pocket instead of paying COBRA. Plus, there’s the situation of losing coverage for more than 5 seconds which allows every subsequent provider to turn you down because ♫ pre-existing condiiiiiiition!

So it’s COBRA or private insurance, and private plans seem to be a bust so far (how about $900 per month and we’ll pay 50% of your prescription costs? Oh, let’s see, carry the FUCK, I guess not), but the problem is that there’s this period between when employer coverage ends (JB’s last day at Microsoft) and COBRA picks up (hopefully very soon, now that we spent $50 overnighting our $1700 check to them?). And that’s exactly when my goddamned prescription needed a refill and the nice Walgreens lady said, oh, hmmm, it says here you’ve been denied coverage?

I tell you this just so I can rant somewhere, to someone, about the deeply painful fuck-upedness of our healthcare system and how it keeps people from taking chances on new jobs and starting their own businesses and sometimes kills people stone cold fucking dead because they can’t afford what they need. I’m lucky that we can go and put a $2000 prescription on our credit card, if we have to, and hope like hell COBRA reimburses us, but what a ridiculous situation. What a shitty deal it is to be waiting for a phone call from my doctor to advise me on the risk of a short-term treatment interruption. What a broken, stupid system where providers are doing everything they can to get out of paying what they’re supposed to, pharmaceutical companies are charging criminally inflated prices for life-saving drugs, and thousands upon thousands have no healthcare whatsoever.

Also, I feel guilty. You know? Or maybe you don’t, I’m not saying it makes sense. But I feel guilty that I am the one causing our family all this expense and worry and it just doesn’t seem like it should have to be this goddamned hard.

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AC
AC
11 years ago

I’m in the UK and from where I stand your system really is f*ked up. I hear Americans freak out about socialised medicine and how much it costs but the reality is that I cannot believe how much money the ‘average’ American family has to pay out for health care compared to what I pay here in the UK. Sorry – I’m not helping am I?

Good luck with everything – I think it will all be worth it for you in the end. And don’t feel guilty – if it was JB and not you, you wouldn’t think for a second that it was his fault would you?

Mariya
Mariya
11 years ago

Amen Sister! I know exactly where you’re coming from. I have MS and it has been a nightmare as far as medical bills go…even with insurance. It’s a very sad situation we have going on with the health care industry and it adds more stress to an already stressful situation

LizP
11 years ago

Have you checked out a “bridge policy”? They are meant to cover you in just this sort of situation.

BabyKMama
BabyKMama
11 years ago

I used to work with software support that required visits to different kinds of medical offices. It bothered me at no end to see pharmaceutical reps bringing pies for the office that day… or breakfast… or gift baskets… And between that and all the television and print advertising for prescription meds that we never used to see, it’s no wonder medication costs have gotten so high. Don’t feel guilty about it – It would be unthinkable if something you’ve dreamed about for so long was derailed due to a medical issue.

Cords
Cords
11 years ago

In Australia we have Medicare and the Pharmaceutical Benefits scheme (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicare_(Australia)#Pharmaceutical_Benefits_Scheme) that entitles everyone to free health care & significantly cheaper medication. Our system isn’t perfect but it sounds a whole lot better than what you just described. I heard you guys in the US have been arguing over whether or not to install something similar. What I don’t get is how anyone could argue against it?
Maybe JB can find a job in Australia? :-)

Mama Ritchie
Mama Ritchie
11 years ago

“CARRY THE FUCK!!!” Thank you for that laugh.

Angella
11 years ago

Aw, Linda. I love you and all of my American friends, but your system is effed up.

For all of it’s show, the U.S. of A. fails miserably when it comes to its own people.

(Also. NOT YOUR FAULT.)

Pete
Pete
11 years ago

When I was looking at a contract in England at a base pay of around 180k@year the recruiter figured my cost for the national health care would be around 7k@yr. At least I’m a Canadian Citizen so when the time comes I can get Health Care that the Republicans don’t seem to want us to have. /Rant

TinaNZ
TinaNZ
11 years ago

It all sounds like a nightmare, and just what you didn’t need on top of the whole moving stress. My heart goes out to you.

And meanwhile, here in NZ, today’s headline story is shock and horror that prescription costs are going up from $3 to $5. I think I’ll bear that perspective in mind next time I feel inclined to complain that we get less than awesome deals on things like internet bandwidth and video game prices.

Amber Lena
Amber Lena
11 years ago

You’re going to hate me for this, but you should have just elected the COBRA for you, not for the whole family. Its not a well known fact that you can do that since JB was the employee and normally the spouse can’t get coverage unless the employee is covered, but COBRA is a weird (Federal) law that allows just that. JB and the boys can go onto a private policy (yes, they are crappy – I sell them everyday to folks just like you, but if you’re healthy, they do the job). Call the HR department at MS right away and see if you can change it.

Jess
11 years ago

Oh honey, we are right there with you! Hubs started his own business and we did Cobra then paid almost $2000 a month in premiums. PREMIUMS. Then 5k deductible per person. 30K in medical bills later we shut down our own business dreams and headed for covered insurance. Bleh. It is messed up. But (Pete) blaming Republicans is a bit simplistic me thinks. I’ve lived in countries with socialized medicine and HOOBOY have my own nightmare experiences to share from that bucket of fun. NIGHTMARES. So yes, it needs fixing and yesterday please! I just don’t think anyone has come up with an acceptable solution yet. Maybe they should get on that. (Also: NOT YOUR FAULT luvee!)

Sara
Sara
11 years ago

UGH.

I have a friend who went to the doc during flu season last year for a cough. This year went in for a similar cold, that wouldn’t go away and it WASN’T covered because it was a “pre-existing condition” Seasonal colds? You must be shitting me.

Donna
Donna
11 years ago

will text you with the number of a pharmacy in Juarez, they will ship to you, and depending on what you need, they are hella cheaper! And they speak english, I get stuff like antibiotics from them, retin A, you know, stuff you could get a prescription for but why pay a copay if you don’t have to….it’s worth a call, they may tell you they don’t have it, or can’t ship it, or you need a scrip, in which case nevermind, but it might be worth a shot….

typelittlea
typelittlea
11 years ago

Don’t get me started. This health care shit strips you of your dignity. I hate that we can’t agree that all people DESERVE health care, I get that we as a people will disagree how to pay for it. Saying things are just fine how they are? Indefensible.

When my husband was unemployed I had to buy individual policies and they were over 975 a month for him and our daughter (i was covered under my employer). We however don’t have a costly prescription. As angry as I am about it, I can only feel grateful that paying 975 a month was even an option.

shelly
shelly
11 years ago

Sorry to hear your about your Catch 22. I hear you Linda, the whole situation is fucked up. But, I lived in the UK for four years, husband was flying for the Air Force at the time and I watched several of my English neighbors die waiting for procedures. Many of which could have been preventable. You don’t want socialized medicine.

Amy
Amy
11 years ago

I think of that all the time, how health insurance coverage (the need for it) prevents people from taking risks with their careers or with starting new businesses. I think it also keeps people from performing well in dead-end jobs that they keep just to have healthcare.

Celeste
Celeste
11 years ago

Been there, done exactly that – except it’s husband & son’s meds that are crazy expensive. I was able to get them filled a week at a time while we sorted out the COBRA/old job hell – forking out the $750/week was painful, but when Cobra finally kicked in – it was only $1500 to reclaim instead of $3,000.

I also discovered that many plans will let you refill somewhere between day 21 & 25… With CIGNA its 22, So by refilling on that schedule i get 16 refills of 30 days, instead of 12, and we slowly build up an extra stockpile for the next insurance interruption (cause there’s bound to be one). So I now

Ashley the Accidental Olympian

I wish I could leave a comment like, “Oh man that sucks, feel for you,” instead of the real comment that sounds a little like, “Gee. I know exactly what you’re talking about. Like that one time I got a $5,000 ER bill because when I needed lifesaving treatment my ambulance took me to the closet ER not the ER apparently my insurance will only cover. Because apparently I needed to convey this to the paramedics while I was unconscious?” Or how I stopped taking my antidepressants for about 5 months because I was trying to convince myself that I didn’t need them, not because I believed that, but because I was hoping it was true because I just couldn’t afford them any longer. Or how my therapy is only sort of covered, when you squint your eyes and put your head between your legs. GOD FORBID WE GIVE PEOPLE WHAT THEY NEED!

Sorry, I just ranted in your comments. But sometimes it feels good to stand up with someone else and say, “THIS IS ALL FUCKED.” Hoping if enough of us say it together maybe we’ll finally, someday be heard. Someday.

sooboo
sooboo
11 years ago

I have always bought my own insurance because I don’t want to be tied to a job I dislike because of benefits. Luckily it’s worked out so far. It’s weird to think about how the U.S. is this place where being an entrepreneur is so important yet our freedoms are obviously so limited by this stupid, stupid health care system.

Maura
Maura
11 years ago

My husband takes life saving medicine as well totally over $1000 a month. I worry about if he lost his job, what if when we retire will Medicare cover it? Like you his condition does not affect his day to day life but the medicine is a daily necessity. There is no generic and I have no clue why a month supply of pills is this expensive!

Brigid
11 years ago

Happened to us when my husband left his job with benefits to be self-employed and THAT WEEK we found out he had cancer. We relied on Cobra and then my small mom and pop business agreed to put him on their insurance while we waited for his new benefits to kick in. There was one week where they didn’t overlap and he was doing chemo for a year. He said he wasn’t going to pay $1800 for a week of chemo. I said “The hell we’re not!” Called his mom who sent us the check. But if we hadn’t had his mom, or if my employers hadn’t put us on their insurance… I can’t even go there.
(10 years later he’s still cancer-free!!)

Trina
Trina
11 years ago

For YEARS we have been paying $700 a month for health insurance through my husband’s employer and it covered NOTHING. Prescription copay $75 on anything I coudn’t get at Target for $4 or $6 generic (which was nothing I needed 90% of the time). Example, my birth control was $75 a month, it was covered by the insurance. The pharmicutical company set the price at $76. My daughter had to have her adenoids out so she could BREATHE, they paid $600 of the $4000. There is something terribly wrong with all of it. It makes me crazy. My husband recently got a new job. They pay for his coverage, we pay MORE than our MORTAGE to cover me and the kids every month on the company plan. BUT!! It covers EVERYTHING with very little copays and very little dedtuctibles. It makes me feel a little better that if something happens and we have to go to the emergency room I won’t be having an anxiety attack about the cost.
Also, someone mentioned above that you can cover just you on COBRA. It’s true. Do it. There is NO NEED to put the guys on COBRA if they don’t really need it.

Libby
Libby
11 years ago

So. I read Amber Leah’s comment, she sounds like she knows what she’s talking about. And Costco now offers medical insurance at not unreasonable prices, which you can check out on their website, although you do have to cough up the membership fee, which, compared to COBRA and co-pays, are no biggie.

jonniker
11 years ago

It makes me SO mad. We have kickass healthcare laws in Massachusetts, but it’s far from perfect. I want single-payer, personally, as do most of the physicians who study this kind of thing. It would help a LOT.

(Single payer does not mean socialized medicine, GAH)

Also, it’s illegal to charge higher premiums for pre-existing conditions and/or deny coverage.

But. If you go a month without coverage here, your tax burden for doing so is about $700 per person, and rises exponentially if you go longer. People get pissy about that. I say tough.

That being said, I know at least one person whose life was literally saved by our healthcare availability — she’d never had insurance before, and wouldn’t have gone to the hospital when she was having symptoms of a heart attack, because the cost would literally break her. She had FINALLY gotten coverage because she could. She was having an actual heart attack and, um, she’s alive. So you know.

It’s STILL so far from perfect. But I like that if Adam ever wants to start his own business or go out on his own, he can, and we don’t have to sit around worrying about private insurance for ourselves and our kids, and I like that entrepreneurs have the freedom to make that decision without being tied to a large employer for decent coverage. I like too, that our laws mandate infertility coverage and people who work for out of state employers can change to our state plan to get expensive procedures covered.

The health connector isn’t great. Plans are still not as inexpensive as they should be. But it’s there, and it’s not fair that it isn’t like that for everyone.

NancyJ
11 years ago

That SUCKS about your medications – yeah, that could be a deal breaker.
I left a fulltime job with benefits on a wing and a prayer because my husband went self-employed business owner and we got individual insurance with a rider on his diverticulitis which was “never going to come back!” – guess what! a year later it did!!
Luckily that fulltime job I left was as a individual and group health insurance CSR so I knew the ins and outs and one of the ins was — One Person Group Insurance with NO exclusions or declines through our local Chamber of Commerce. Signed him up and one month later he’s having his $25,000 surgery to have more large intestine removed.
Hell, do they have that through your local Chamber of Commerce out there?

H
H
11 years ago

This scares the shit out of me.

melanie
melanie
11 years ago

the company we work for has pretty sucky insurance… we only pay $580/month for a family, which sounds ideal except we also pay the first 4,000 a year and we are relatively healthy so for example the last time my daughter had strep throat at 7pm on Sat night, I took her to urgent care, got a $750 doc bill and because I couldn’t use the preferred employee pharmacy (which is only open Mon-Friday 8-5) generic antibiotics cost $125….. every time my kid gets sick I have to think, is he or she REALLY sick, like $900 sick or is this something that can wait until Monday? It bites that I have to make those kinds of choices… but at least we HAVE insurance for the years someone needs surgery (though my daughters laser treatments for a hemangioma at $600 were spread out over a couple of years so all those got to be out of pocket as well) *sigh*

Laura
Laura
11 years ago

I think we have to attack this problem not just from the vantage of the payor (insurance companies) but the providers (why do doctors, especially specialists, have to make so much $$ and what is the incentive to give higher quality, lower cost care – answer: there is none) and pharmaceutical companies (why do drugs cost so much less in other countries and why do drug companies spend more $$ researching a better erectile dysfunction drug than better drugs for rare, life threatening conditions – answer: $$ baby).

Judy
Judy
11 years ago

Don’t even get me started. The entire world has “socialized medicine”, it’s only here in the US that we are ruled by insurance and pharmaceutical companies. I had to leave work because my COPD was so bad…but now I can’t afford the medicine that helps it because those 30 little pills cost nearly $1000 a month, and I’m living on Social Security. And I’m better off than most people because I do have Medicare and ONLY have to shell out $155 a month for Parts B and D (which is ONLY about 12% of my total income). But I can’t afford not to have it. I’m just doing without the Spiriva and trying not to breathe when I go outside where the smoky air (from brush fires) and humidity give me fits.

We shouldn’t have to put up with this shit.

Mary
Mary
11 years ago

I feel your pain, sister. My husband and I are school teachers, and several years ago, our district negotiated away our health care plan and replaced it with what I call a Christmas Club account .. aka health savings plan with a $2400 deductible before it pays anything at all. Two weeks ago my eight year old daughter had a raging fever of 103 for 8 days and when the pediatrician recommended she have a chest x-ray to rule out pneumonia, I begged him for a $20 generic antibiotic instead because we couldn’t afford the Children’s Hospital bill for the x-ray. He refused, despite my pointing out it made more sense financially to go the cheaper route first. I’m sure I qualify for the parent of the year award for being so concerned about the cost, right? The system is so fucked up and we little people in it are caught between a rock and a hard place. Anybody who says we don’t need a better system must be crazy or independently wealthy.

Taryn
11 years ago

I couldn’t agree more…this is why there needs to be some kind of reasonable alternative in place for people. Even though I didn’t completely love the Obama care plan I get that there needs to be SOMETHING out there.
I take migraine meds that, without a copay, were costing me $230 for 9 pills on my old job’s insurance plan. And the job I was working at the time (the insurance had a $2500 ded for just me) was making me SO stressed out I was having these migraines a few times a month, generally blowing thru at least 3 pills at a time. And it totally incapacitates you so you can’t not take it. So here I am paying out a huge % of my measley pay in premium and still having to cough up the $2500. I also had cervical dysplasia that year which meant I had to have day surgery and even between those two things do you know I BARELY hit that deductible? I mean, thankfully I had ANY insurance but shit, I don’t make THAT MUCH money!
I also had a friend who got denied insurance when she applied for some after she couldn’t be on her parents plan anymore–she was denied because the therapist she had gone to (of her own free will do help her deal w/ some bad feelings from a really crappy relationship) had put down that she “discontinued treatment against advice” (she quit going to the appts when it seemed more about the therapist getting a copay & she felt she had gotten all she was going to out of it) so the insurance co said “Sorry…pre-existing condition”–you’re clearly a nutjob because you quit going to the therapy that you elected to go to in the first place. ??? WHAT?
And also….I worked for a health insurance company once. I made terrible pay and ironically had mediocre insurance, but meanwhile you hear that the CEO is getting a million $ bonus and NO WONDER health insurance is expensive, those guys at the top are lining their pockets with our money. By the way….my job there was sent to the Phillipines sortly after I moved on to new horizons. My friend went to train those people & he said they’re paying them about $3/hr. Can you say CORPORATE GREED?

Taryn
11 years ago

oh god, that was really long. SORRY!

Tessa
Tessa
11 years ago

Oh, mama. Don’t worry, even if they get your check on day 29 of the month, they’ll retro your coverage back to the beginning of the month. So while that’s an awfully big check to write, you can breathe a bit easier about them receiving the check!

Kristen
Kristen
11 years ago

Hey there, long time reader here. Rarely comment. I am so sorry you have to deal with this! It SUCKS! My husband works for a company with similarly amazing insurance coverage and we feel like he can never switch jobs.

One quick thing to give you one less thing to worry about. I am a medical Social Worker so I deal with this stuff all the time: If your insurance will be through JB’s work then you CANNOT be turned down for a pre-existing condition, even with a lapse in coverage. Plans through employers have to cover every employee and every family member. This will still be true ever if The Affordable Care Act gets overturned (fingers crossed it won’t). Hope that gives you one less worry.

GOOD LUCK!

liz
liz
11 years ago

Amen. AMEN!
Now, go forth and write to/call your legislators and tell them to fix this shit, because that is the absolute only way to effect positive change at the federal level. Speaking as one who works in education, I feel I have the experience to recommend this course of action. Copy. Paste. Edit curse words, or not, send, set to repeat weekly, done.

Cally
11 years ago

I didn’t realize how bad it was until I got my first job after school and actually enrolled in coverage. Until that point, I had never had coverage- even as a child under 18. It was just, fingers crossed we don’t get sick.
I was so excited to get insurance, like I was almost winning the lottery or something. Then it was all wait… wait. I’m paying… so that I can pay this deductible… to be able to pay this copay. What? There’s nothing wrong with me!
I guess I’m just commiserating, because I don’t have any solutions. But jesus, it’s effed.

Liz Kreiger
Liz Kreiger
11 years ago

Sometimes the pharmaceutical company that makes the medication has programs to help people, maybe that is a possbility to bridge your medication until you are insured again? I’d be a bit concerned about on-line companies. I recently heard about realy awful scams with some of those companies and they are offshore – Dominican Republic-and so out of reach of the law. I’m so sorry this is adding to the stress of relocating. Good luck. Hope the suggestion to get COBRA for you only works out.

Ashleas
Ashleas
11 years ago

You aren’t the only one. My mom pays $800 dollars a month for her insurance to deny her the cancer-fighting drugs her doctor wants her on. Lovely system we have here.

Beth
Beth
11 years ago

I hope you don’t find this disrespectful, because I’m genuinely curious – you’ve referenced your prescription and condition several times but have never gone into detail, I don’t think. Will you ever write about it? You’re SO open with so many sensitive topics, which I love, but this one seems to be off limits and I wondered why.

Stacy
Stacy
11 years ago

I know exactly how you feel. I had to stockpile rx’s by alternately lowering my dose every other day for months before I changed jobs. Chronic health management costs me $600 a month without insurance and I have to take jobs based on rx drug coverage. Preexisting condition will haunt me too. And yes it’s sooooooo fucked.

Lisa S.
11 years ago

I can’t find the stat right now, but I remember reading that one of the reasons so many entrepreneurs/small business starters/i.e. “job creators” in the U.S. are in their 60s is because then they have GOVERNMENT PROVIDED HEALTHCARE BENEFITS and thus can comfortably spring off into the great unknown of starting a business, because getting sick isn’t the end of the world.

I say fix the damm system for people in their 20s and 30s and 40s — you know, the folks with lots of ideas and energy and kids who go to the doctor for shots — can begin starting businesses and creating more jobs too. If we decouple health insurance benefits from the job market, both would probably do a lot better for us in the long run.

Kimberley
Kimberley
11 years ago

I’m sorry you are facing this frustrating and expensive situation. I often wonder how in the world Americans can afford to live, let alone save anything, given your outrageous healthcare costs and nonsensical system. I am a Canadian, and while our universal healthcare system is not perfect, I have never known anyone personally who did not get top notch treatment in an emergent situation. I can get in to see my doctor anytime and all the doctors I have ever dealt with have been very good. (Specialists are bit of a different story: longer wait times.) My daughter was born weighing 810 g (1 lb, 12 oz) and was in the hospital for five months where she received exceptional care. We paid nothing for it. Our taxes are higher than yours, but I will gladly pay them without complaint to avoid a similar mess to the one you have down there.

Vanessa
11 years ago

You’ve just outlined nearly exactly one of the major reasons we left South Africa. The cost of healthcare. In SA you *have to* have private healthcare or risk death at a state institution, so you know, not really an option. I also have hugely expensive monthly prescriptions, and here in the UK, it’s all covered for free, by THE GOVERNMENT. No. Shit. I thought that because it was ‘pre-existing/chronic/lifelong’ etc I would at least have to pay for the ‘prescription charge’ but no, lifelong and chronic = free. Obviously it’s not the only reason we left, there was also a)wanting to return to my husbands country of citizenship/upbringing b)not wanting to experience the same level of fear around crime anymore c) relatively stable political situation etc – and well the list goes on…

Hannah
11 years ago

Hooboy. Chronic illness girl over here, and insurance issues have regularly caused me rage and tears. Right now I’m working part time, and my husband is a fulltime student, I pay for private insurance without much coverage and a pretty high deductible. I take a medication that costs–wait for it–$20,000 a dose. Fortunately I only get the treatment twice a year, but…um. UM. Our saving grace has oddly enough been the drug company itself…they have a pretty generous assistance program, and without them we would be swimming in debt over here. As it is we had to pay a little less than 20% of that. Something maybe to look into with your own drug company?

Meg
Meg
11 years ago

Aside from another “dear God what a nightmare” comment, I have to tell you that the way you wrote “preexisting condition” I sang it to the same tune as “let’s got out to the lobby!”

I hope you guys get a quick fix, and that this becomes one less stressor on your plate.

Antropologa
11 years ago

It’s so much easier and more common to take chances here in Sweden–change jobs, start your own company–because of the universal insurance and the social safety net. People fail sometimes but also they succeed and you see how many great things come out of Sweden for such a small country because people are more likely to take risks.

I can’t figure out why some in the US can’t see that. It ends up being better for the economy, not worse, to take care of your citizenry.

Jo
Jo
11 years ago

I’m in the UK too and I thought for a second, ‘Thank goodness for socialised medicine.’ Then I remembered we are paying 40% of our income to the government and my husband is self-employed as he’s following his dreams (and he’s amazing at what what he does) but the taxes are KILLING us financially. So. In a weird way, I feel your pain.

J
J
11 years ago

In 1999, my mother had a disease that could have been treated with a new-to-market medicine. Her insurance company said the medicine was too expensive and would not cover the cost. After our Senator intervened the company finally agreed but it was too late. She passed away.

The medicine was meant to treat pulminary hypertension but years later, they started marketing it for the side effect – erections. The medicine is now called Viagra.

liz
liz
11 years ago

I am an American living in Germany with my German husband and son…been here for 3 years. I was uninsured in the US for 10 years and than insured in the US for 3. We decided to move here after the 2008 crash partly because of medical benifits. After being in Germany for 3 yrs, I can say the benefits are not the best. Commen cold? No problem. Cancer? You may die before you are able to see a specialist. 30 percent of our salery is for taxes, and the payscale for jobs is much lower. After paying for the basics, rent, car, insurance, we have no more money after the 15th of the month. So we have heathcare but do not know where our next meal will come from. It is all a crapshoot. I do not believe the US is worse or better than socialized Europe. My prayers are out there for you Linda, and for all of us that struggle to just have good health at a reasonable cost!

Lori
Lori
11 years ago

My husband shares your guilt. He’s the one with the medical issues in our house. Right now he’s an internal consultant at a large company with relatively good benefits. In the past, his health issues have stopped him from starting his own consulting company and prevented him from going to work for smaller companies. It’s not fair, but at least he likes his job.

This doesn’t apply to your current problems, but a future fyi. I’ve saved our family a lot of money simply by being annoying. Whenever we get a large medical bill, I resubmit the claim to our insurance company. Then I continue to call them and puruse the issue up the chain of command. Nearly every single time, the insurance company ends up paying more of the bill. It takes time, but it has helped lower our out-of-pocket costs.

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