Something that seems common in American awareness is the idea of something being ‘hot’ or ‘new’ and then not, and while the shine fades, the actual thing is still happening and sometimes the really important parts might be still to come. For instance, the GOP delegate selection process is making things more interesting as the results of primaries aren’t necessarily generating the expected delegate outcomes (this was true in 2012, too). It is the case with state-wide education initiatives, personal home improvement endeavors, getting a puppy, etc… you know what I am talking about.
It’s unfortunately also true about medicine. Having a scheduled surgery is a big deal and everyone gets all anxious on your behalf, asking what they can do, asking if you’re scared, telling their own similar tale… but the truth is, afterward, they ask if you have a scar (no), and if you’re up and about, they figure it’s all over and nothing more is to come. Good for you!
Except the bills. Two months ago, a colleague launched a crowdfunding effort on my behalf because I had the high-deductible insurance coverage with a family—deductible was $3k and out of pocket annual cap was $10k and a single surgical procedure inside my skull was going to max all of that out in a single hit, not spread over the year. Spread over the year, we can handle (barely) $10k in additional expenses. Spread over 60 days, we absolutely cannot. Basically, I needed 5 months worth of paychecks (covering regular costs PLUS the medical) in a span where I was going to see 2… plus there were other things we knew we had to deal with now immediately that could have otherwise waited were I healthy AND we knew caring for our nearly three year old son would mean some extra costs with his regular day care folks (different, longer hours; overnights connected to the surgery date). My wife’s pay is hourly, so her taking time off would mean another hit to the regular bottom line… Putting it all together, we thought $12k was a reasonable, though humbling, ask.
Just like the He-yooj Drumph results got lots of press on primary or caucus night and the far less overt Cruz local delegate mining operation is getting nearly no looks, my fundraising effort blew up the first week, generating $3k and $4k in two consecutive weeks, allowing me to make several very key payments (most importantly, a discounted amount to the hospital because the total was paid within four days of the procedure). But the following three weeks have seen just over $600 more trickle in, and the truth is, that $10k insurance amount is not changing and the bills are still due, despite me being up and walking around and not having a visible scar (they went in via my nose / sinus / sphenoid), I’m still paying for an inter-cranial invasive surgical procedure and am still a bit more than one month’s pay short. We are now into the choose a bill vs a meal territory while we wait on my wife’s next check and that will create a cushion of a week, before we do that again waiting on my next check.
I do NOT want individual Kossacks to go give big chunks of their oft-times scant resources, but if a few hundred of you could spare the cost of a cup of coffee and actually gave that amount, we’d be OK. So share this and rec this and get some comment traffic going and put it out on FB and twitter and wherever else… Do what online communities do so well and what we shouldn’t NEED to do in one of the largest economies in the developed world: keep a medical event from driving someone to the brink of bankruptcy.