Friday, January 2, 2009

Health insurance - do not take it for granted.

Health insurance is one of those things I never ever used to think about. When Omid and I graduated from WSU and moved to SW Washington for his first official job, we had to choose from so many different plans. This was new to us. We were used to Student Health (WSU's health plan for all paying students). I was expecting Nas and I remember choosing PacifiCare. I thought it was really cool that I only had to pay $50 (yes, that's $50) to deliver a baby. My sister and her husband had just had a baby a year and a half earlier w/o health insurance and her bill was thousands of dollars (she had a c-section and lengthy hospital stay). I thought I had hit the jackpot. $50 to have a baby (& $5 office visits? Neat!).

Then a few years later, Omid was laid off from his job and I was so worried about health insurance. I had a nice quiet daughter (not worried) and an overactive 4th grade son (very worried!). Then, it happened. My son was hurt on the track at school (pushed down by another boy). The school nurse said he would most likely need stitches. Omid had just started his new job the day before (serendipity?!) and I remember calling him on my way to the doctor's office; asking him if his health insurance had kicked in yet or should I charge the visit on Master Card? Thankfully, it had and thankfully, Matty didn't need stitches, but the visit still cost over $300 (with our wonderful co-pay of $20).

So I am very happy that it's now January & Omid's parent's health insurance finally kicks in. They have been waiting since October and we can now breathe easier if they happen to get sick (which I hope they don't!!!).

Health insurance...it's a wonderful thing and something I won't take for granted again. Now if I could only convince Omid we need pet insurance for Remy. :)

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