today i was reminded why nobody in our family is allowed to get sick... i mean for more than the obvious reasons like being terrifying and generally bad news.
that shit is expensive.
remember my blog post about my little man and his food allergy situation??
well, update.
the allergist does not think the food allergies are a potential asthma trigger PLUS it turns out that when i actually received (on my person) the blood test results, they didn't look nearly as bad as overly dramatic Nurse Ratchet led overly dramatic medical personnel momma to believe over the phone.
and. it is bad, yes, that the poor fella is allergic to our very lovable and ridiculously smelly and hairy pooch. but the rest of the list, the slew of foodstuffs found in all foodstuffs was so minimal that they might even be considered false positives... nice huh? overreaction much?
except for milk, which we already knew- that is still a minor, very minor player. so yes EXCITING and thankful rejoicing all around because he can still eat a cupcake at a birthday party but frowny face over having to tell your four year old he can't have basically anything anymore and then say "just kidding" one week later...
only a slight digression because it illustrates a point. the point being that we had a very strong inkling that the kid was allergic to the dog and milk. and that is exactly what the $413 lab bill told me too. i know that's not the point, i work in the health field- i get it. diagnostic tests rule things out, but i can't help but be a tad cranky that we have to pay that much money to find out what we already knew, just printed on four $100 sheets of paper.
the kicker is this- the test ACTUALLY cost $1700+ and $1300 was written off because of our insurance agreement. mind blowing- thousands of dollars to pull out a few vials of blood and test them up. but it is not the providers fault. they have to charge that much for a tiny little procedure because insurance forces them to write so much off as part of the agreement and they do still need to make money and pay their help. what a broken system.
B.
ro.
KEN.
{sigh} i will never forget all the $$ that my family got socked with when my mom kept growing brain tumors and everyone wondering why since she had insurance. i still break out in a cold sweat with every "eob" we ever receive from the smallest of check up appointments- just in anticipation.
{longer sigh} this is the system i must toil away in. and while i work in it and try to pay back the gazillion loans that landed me here, i sure as hell can't afford to be a regular patient in it. rant over.
and fist pump for four year olds that can eat the same stuff as everyone else.
and double fist pump for mommies that won't let them crappy stuff just because they can.
and google fist pumps that we haven't had a major health issue to really get all ranty (not "randy" like blogger wants me to change this word to) about.
i don't know if people are actually still fist pumping but maybe it will intimidate the insurance gods if we all do it together. stay healthy friends.
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