Je suis quebecoise!
I have a doctor's appointment today, and as much as I'm looking forward to finding out how everything is, I'm completely terrified of the bills this visit is going to generate. Remember how I told you guys a few months ago how work was switching us to a health insurance plan with a health savings account and high deductible? Well, before my first prenatal visit, things were ok. J hasn't been to the doctor's at all and I only had my eye appointment, which wasn't too bad. But my first prenatal checkup a month ago has cost SO FAR about $480. The bloodwork, the ultrasound, the office visit all added up to that, and I don't know if that's even the last of it. So today I'm going back knowing that it's probably going to cost another few hundred dollars even if I just get weighed, have my blood pressure taken, and so forth. I swear, it almost makes me want to move to Canada. I'd have socialized health care and access to maple sugar candy whenever I want it. Oh, Canada.
posted by Ann at 8:35 AM
7 Comments:
Wow, that really stinks for you. It's so expensive to have anything done. How did it get so inflated?
I've been saying this about Canada for a while now. Maybe I should find myself a Canadian guy and get hitched.
I wonder if Michael Moore's new "documentary" will have any impact on our health system.
Ann, talk to you dr. about setting up monthly payments for your prenatal visits...this is what my dr. did. It worked out so the gyn bill was paid before the baby was born and then we just had to brace for the hospital bills. Try not to worry about it, though, no hospital is going to make you write one huge check before they let you and baby Shifflet go home...they will work with you on paying it! We took about 8-9 months to pay our bill after EH was born. Read and double check EVERYTHING on every bill, though!
Oh, and let us know how the dr's visit goes today!
Funny thing is, that $480 is the price AFTER the adjustments that the insurance company makes. If we didn't have insurance, it would have cost over $1000. I don't see how uninsured people have babies at all. They must use Medicaid or something.
And the doctor already told me it's going to cost around $2000 to deliver the baby, and that's without the hospital fees. EGAD.
This next appt. should not be as expensive, probably half. You'll pee in a cup, listen to the heartbeat, and talk to the Dr. There will be a time soon, where they'll ask if you want an AFP and Triple Screen test, but that is not mandatory. I opted not to have it with Ben, since it didn't matter if he had a birth defect, I was keeping him!
Later you'll have a sugar check, another ultrasound, and I think that's it.
It will work itself out, these things always do.
I know with my health insurance, once I paid the copay at the first visit, I haven't had to pay anything since. I realize this is a different situation, but hopefully it means that the rest of your visits won't be so costly. I have a feeling the ultrasound ate up most of that.
I see things on babycenter.com all the time for additional maternity coverage- you might want to look into that.
We had about the same situation as Beth. We set up a monthly plan with the ob for whatever the insurance wasn't paying, then we got slammed with the hospital bills after the births. It probably took us a good 9-12 months each time to pay all those off. The nice thing is you just pay the hospital whatever you can each month. They like to act all tough, but they're usually just content to get something.
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