When my parents had been married for a year, and had a new baby girl, Dad was working at Quaker Oats in Cedar Rapids for $12.00 - per week! Not per hour, per week. At that time, he would have never dreamed that people might someday be earning that (and usually more) PER HOUR!
When I got my first job as a secretary, I was thrilled to be offered a salary of $300.00 per month. That averaged out to $60.00 per week take-home. I had my own apartment and a $400.00 1964 Chevy (which required a quart of oil per day to run). Well, times have changed.
Yes, we as Americans are born free. But Heaven help you when it comes to paying medical bills and you have crummy insurance! It's not a secret that medical help is expensive, but if you have good health insurance, you can breathe a little easier. If you have the before-mentioned crummy kind, you may be looking at bankruptcy.
Just the few bills that have been submitted to our insurance (and thankfully they are all being paid), are averaging approx. $4,000.00 per week, and we're just getting started.
I just found out that our oncologist applied for some kind of grant to assist us in the Neulasta shot that I have to get the day after each chemo session. For some reason, we were lucky enough to get the grant. Each shot is billed at $5,000.00 and I will be getting four shots in total. After network savings, it drops to $1,800.00 of which we are responsible for only $25.00. Whew! Miracles do happen. Dr. Ghosh is known for trying to find the most economical ways to handle expensive medical bills. My granddaughter says that Dr. G. has some kind of scholarship program at Kennedy High School and is well known for giving a lot back to the community. He is not only a physician, but is trying make a difference for the Average Joe, too.
Earlier this year, our insurance man gave us an option of lowering our premiums by $400.00 per month if we went with a higher deductible. Hey, everyone wants to save a little on bills, right? Fortunately, we said no. I can't imagine where we would be today if we had said yes. You see, our plan is grandfathered in, since we have had it a certain number of years. If we had switched plans, it might have been considered a brand new plan. We could have been one of those families who got their insurance cancelled because we do not have maternity benefits on it, which is the new requirement. Yup, old Janene and older Lonnie are being irresponsible for not having maternity coverage.
Sorry for being so very serious today, but this is a serious subject and my heart goes out to anyone who is scared out of their minds when they find out they have a health issue, and perhaps know that it might cost them their life's savings. It happens every day.
Seriously, changes must be made.
THUMP! That's the sound of me jumping down from my soapbox.
GOD BLESS YOU ALL
NOTE: WOW! I just reread this post and I sure didn't mean to come off so snotty. I guess I was just stunned at what huge amounts are being charged for medical services. I know Little Ma has shots in her eyes periodically and they are $4,000.00 each. It just seems that things have gotten so out-of-hand. I am very grateful that we DO have great insurance and it is taking care of everything. So take this post for what it's worth. Like I said earlier, what I write on this blog is what it is. ;>)