Medical crisis and bankruptcy

I am currently reading an article about 'Financial Medicine' over in the Personal Finances section at The Wall Street Journal

The article states that 6 out of 10 bankruptcies are filed due to medical reasons (illness). This is a big reason I am filing so there is some comfort in that I'm not alone. I also find it interesting that there is such a stigma attached to filing bankruptcy yet over half of the reason is inadequate health care or illness. Now I know some things medically can be prevented however things such as getting into a major car accident or having an inherited disease and other issues. I will try not to get into the political aspect of our health care system and the likes.

The article encourages you to check out your policies and plan from there. What is your lifetime maximum, did you even know you had a lifetime maximum? What would happen if you hit that maximum? What about yearly maximums?

What are your risk factors? Do you know what your plan covers should one of your risk factors (Cancer, diabetes....) come into play? What about medications? I know my plan only offers a slight discount on medications.

Often times I have to go without medication if there isn't a cheap alternative because the insurance just doesn't offer enough of a discount. For instance I once got a needed RX there was no alternative to it and the RX was about $115 every 30 days I needed to take this for a few months my discount plan offered $3 off. Other times I only pay a very small percentage so it all depends on what it is covering.

You could just need something as simple as physical therapy, something else I found out is very expensive. Physical therapy is usually prescribed 2-3 times a week for at least 4 weeks, what is your co-pay? Mine is $30 a visit plus 20% of various things such as the charge for equipment used, or the massage therapist etc... for me in the end I had to decide that physical therapy was just too much money in light of having to file because of these types of reasons to begin with. I do have flex spending but obviously not enough to cover PT with possibly needing surgery too (also have to pay 20% of that, you can imagine it could get costly quick).

Karen Pollitz, a research professor at Georgetown was quoted in the article saying "It's perilous to assume that we are protected just because we have a health-insurance card in our wallet." How insightful really! For me this one sentence is so powerful.

What are you doing to protect yourself?

Photo By: jwblinn

More money OUT the door!

I really should take stock up in Dentistry, if they had such a thing. Maybe some company that makes Dental items such as the parts to make a filing or other some such thing.

I've been in pain, excruciating pain. I have to admit I'm a big ole baby when it comes to tooth pain. I just am. I have wretched teeth, they are soft and they don't like me I think, I'm sure the dentist pocket book love me though and his wife of course!

I've been going to his office since I was a wee child. I trust him completely and he works with me. In fact he is working with me and giving me some of the procedure for FREE!!! He also saw me at no charge when I was in pain! He really does care about his patients and his main concern is that they get the treatment he needs.

Here is the kicker he is doing his portion at no charge but the main portion I have to see a specialist. The specialist comes into his office twice a week he is an endodontist that will be doing the main portions to the tune of $920 YIKES!! Thankfully I have enough on my insurance still that my portion is only $184 (whew!!!).

It is important I get this done now, the cap is waiting until January when my insurance kicks in again because after this (and some other work I had done this year) I will have used all but $88 of my insurance for the year. He thinks there might be some infection in there and I am in pain that won't go away with just some antibiotics (although I AM on them). I also have a heart condition that makes it dangerous for me to have a dental infection that will keep coming back. So it isn't an option to wait you see.

The remainder of the balance (the $184) will go on my flex spending (whew again!!).

The root canal due to the tooth it is on and the difficulty of what is there will have to be an outpatient surgery. I don't have to go completely under though and that is a good thing. I am a bit scared.

I now have to figure in the cap and what insurance pays (only about half my half will be about $450) into my flex spending for next year. I like to look at my flex spending as a sort of emergency fund because that is what it is there for, yet in a way you have to be careful not to put too much money into it. I'll have to do up a post all about flex spending in case there are some out there that don't know all the ins and outs of these accounts.

Now the other option is I could have the tooth pulled, however pulling teeth sometimes leads to bone depletion in the jaw. Since I am still young I'd like to avoid that if I can. The best option is to have the root canal even though it does cost quite a bit more. Even if I did have it pulled because of the nerves that have to be removed along with it and the location and difficulty of the tooth I'd still have to see the specialist.

Too bad the tooth fairy doesn't visit me anymore huh?

Photo By: Kaptain Kobold