Alyice on September 9th, 2008

Thanks For The Health Insurance

As you may recall, a little over a month ago my husband cut off the tip of his middle finger in a freak work-related accident. While the company he works for carries insurance for such events, and has been wonderful throughout the entire experience, all the bills come to our home first. Once we receive the bills, we send them to the Worker’s Compensation department who then pays the bills. To date, the bill has totaled nearly $20,000.

I cannot imagine having to pay that bill ourselves, nor would I want to. I’m so grateful that it occurred under Workman’s Comp and not our traditional medical insurance—because even at an 80/20 split, that’s a lot of out-of-pocket expenses.

I have to tell you that I am truly grateful for any form of medical insurance we can get because without medical insurance getting sick or injured could put a lot of undue stress on our family. I am grateful that my husband has a job that provides medical insurance. I am grateful that we make enough money to afford the monthly premiums. I am grateful that we have a hospital that works with you when you cannot afford to pay your balance in full.

And yet, I can’t help but think about the state of our health care system and long for something better. Heck, I even long for the days when we were covered under Kaiser Permanente of California—now that was affordable health insurance.

For some that $20,000 bill is an entire year’s salary, for others it’s half a year’s salary. Either way you look at it, it’s a burden none of us want to endure—and many of us cannot afford to endure.

Yet, many people in this country do endure such bills. They endure them because they don’t work for companies that offer medical insurance. They endure them because while the companies they work for offer some form of medical insurance, it’s not enough to cover anything other than routine doctor visits. They endure them because while their medical insurance is good, our medical profession overcharges and there’s just not enough insurance to cover the difference.

So if you’ve been griping about what your medical insurance does or does not cover, or even about how high your medical premiums are, can I just say, “Give thanks” because it could be a whole lot worse.

Give thanks…

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AlyiceEdrich.com
I'm a freelance writer, mixed media artist, SMVA, and the owner of The Dabbling Mum.

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