Well, the bills are rolling in. The total to day is over $350,000. If you haven't been following the saga, you can catch up here.
My beloved spent a little over 5 weeks in two separate hospitals as they tried to stabilize his condition, transferred him to Duke University Medical Center to further stabilize his condition, and finally performed surgery. He was released. And then, a week later, was back in the hospital for a week while they messed around with getting his heart beat to steady.
$350,000! And it has just begun...
There are months of physical therapy, a cocktail of medications that makes my head hurt just to contemplate and which cost over $200 a week, and a schedule of followup visits with cardiologists, and other specialists, that stretches well into next year.
I have had to fight with young doctors, trolling for new patients from the old people who wander through the system, and assigning themselves to his case in hopes of billing his insurance. They drive up the cost of everyone's insurance. But, how many people have enough knowledge to look at a series of blood panels and say. "He is NOT a diabetic!". (I've blocked two of those, what I consider to be, unethical actions.) Wending one's way through major medical events is not for the faint of spirit.
We are extremely fortunate to have health insurance provided by the State of Virginia because my husband worked for the college system for over 20 years. They pay for nearly everything. The co-pay is a tiny fraction of the costs.
The monthly cost to maintain that terrific coverage is steep, however. Over $500 a month just for his policy. Five hundred a month - an amount beyond the reach of many working families, and totally impossible for the unemployed.
And I can't help but think, as I open the statements and look at the billing, "What the hell would we do if he was not insured?"
What do those with chronic conditions do? What do those with small children do? (When my kids were small we just went to the doctor and he sent a bill. Usually $15 for an office visit. Now just pulling into the parking lot can cost $250.
We have seen our carefully hoarded retirement wealth decimated by an economic meltdown, our savings depleted, and our expenses go up rapidly. We are retired, but not decrepit. But, we are too old to find work. Without health insurance we would be declaring bankruptcy, or moving into our cars.
I am so fortunate. Good insurance, good doctors, and a battling, mean, old man who isn't ready to die, just yet.
The plight of those not so fortunate has been brought forcefully home. I can no longer sit on the side lines and watch with benign amusement as the discussion takes place. I no longer see the discussion as not effecting me, and mine. Without the coverage, and the quality of care that coverage can provide, my husband would be dead.
This last 2 months has made the debate quite personal...