Health Insurance
Parts of this blog will be hard for me - because I am hard on me - so forgive me if I stumble. It is no secret that we were kind of broke over in Japan. We had almost enough money to live on without dipping into credit cards, but not enough if we actually wanted to experience Japan while we were there. A major factor in deciding to come home was to start making a decent wage again that would allow us to save money, pay off debt, etc.
Here's the part I haven't really talked about - due to a weird sense of shame or something like it. You might think me foolish for feeling badly, but I do even though I can logically explain why I shouldn't. Here goes - in Japan every person that is legally living in the country gets medical insurance and is able to see a doctor and get meds if needed. The cost of the insurance is based on your family size and income. Since we had no income the previous year our insurance cost us about $50 a month. Had we stayed the cost would have gone up to about $1500 for the entire year. To see a doctor was cheap, maybe $10, and meds were super cheap. Coming home we faced the medical insurance crisis that so many American's face. We had no insurance, hadn't begun working yet in order to become eligible for insurance through work, and we had very little money to speak of until we started working and getting paid. Our options were to go without, borrow money to take out a private plan, or turn to the State for care.
All three options had major cons, most of which I don't need to point out. I will say that the middle choice sounds the best at first but gets so complicate when you start looking into it. Anyway, we decided to do the first and the third choice. Jason and I have no medical insurance until he is eligible at work (June 1st I think), but the kids are being covered by the State of Washington. It feels bad. I don't know why. I honestly would not judge anyone else for doing exactly as we have done, but I judge me. I feel like I am not providing for my kids, and that I am taxing and already taxed system. The few people that I have shared this with have all made great points as to why I shouldn't feel the way I do, and in my better moments I can hear those clearly.
Here is what is making me share this with you now - Jaxon is miserable. His allergies are making him lose sleep, he can't breathe, his nose is stuffy and runny, on and on. So, I called to make an appointment for him to be seen. It was difficult to find anyone that would accept the state insurance and when I did find them, it was difficult to make the appointment. Finally, I found a large hospital group that was easy to work with and got him in right away. Everything was great. The doctor referred Jax to an allergist because his symptoms are pretty bad and he exhibits asthma type symptoms. I called and he cannot get in until July because of the type of insurance he has. If he had any other insurance he could get in now. It doesn't matter that he's miserable, he's got the wrong insurance to get quick care. He can however be put on a waiting list with other "state" kids so that if one cancels he can be seen sooner.
Now, I admittedly don't know how the system works as far as billing, costs, insurance reimbursements, etc within the medical world. But what I do know is that no kid, insurance, no insurance, private or state, should have to wait 3 months to be seen when there are open appointments now. What the heck is that? It felt super terrible to be hearing that because we couldn't get our own insurance right away that Jaxon could not see a doctor. I'm feeling even worse now - less adequate, but I am also angry. It's not right. How is it that we think this is okay? How do we let good people, who are just trying to get started, get on their feet, stay on their feet, whatever, how do we let them get treated this way? It feels elitest, discriminatory. It feels like being picked last for a sport team or not being asked to the dance.
I am so thankful for this experience, right now. I have always been fortunate, and I still am, but I am seeing how some others feel. I will always do my best and stop to think twice before assuming anything anymore. We don't know people's stories, we don't know why they are where they are. But one thing I do know now is that they help we offer to get people going, get them healthy, it needs to be better.
Here's the part I haven't really talked about - due to a weird sense of shame or something like it. You might think me foolish for feeling badly, but I do even though I can logically explain why I shouldn't. Here goes - in Japan every person that is legally living in the country gets medical insurance and is able to see a doctor and get meds if needed. The cost of the insurance is based on your family size and income. Since we had no income the previous year our insurance cost us about $50 a month. Had we stayed the cost would have gone up to about $1500 for the entire year. To see a doctor was cheap, maybe $10, and meds were super cheap. Coming home we faced the medical insurance crisis that so many American's face. We had no insurance, hadn't begun working yet in order to become eligible for insurance through work, and we had very little money to speak of until we started working and getting paid. Our options were to go without, borrow money to take out a private plan, or turn to the State for care.
All three options had major cons, most of which I don't need to point out. I will say that the middle choice sounds the best at first but gets so complicate when you start looking into it. Anyway, we decided to do the first and the third choice. Jason and I have no medical insurance until he is eligible at work (June 1st I think), but the kids are being covered by the State of Washington. It feels bad. I don't know why. I honestly would not judge anyone else for doing exactly as we have done, but I judge me. I feel like I am not providing for my kids, and that I am taxing and already taxed system. The few people that I have shared this with have all made great points as to why I shouldn't feel the way I do, and in my better moments I can hear those clearly.
Here is what is making me share this with you now - Jaxon is miserable. His allergies are making him lose sleep, he can't breathe, his nose is stuffy and runny, on and on. So, I called to make an appointment for him to be seen. It was difficult to find anyone that would accept the state insurance and when I did find them, it was difficult to make the appointment. Finally, I found a large hospital group that was easy to work with and got him in right away. Everything was great. The doctor referred Jax to an allergist because his symptoms are pretty bad and he exhibits asthma type symptoms. I called and he cannot get in until July because of the type of insurance he has. If he had any other insurance he could get in now. It doesn't matter that he's miserable, he's got the wrong insurance to get quick care. He can however be put on a waiting list with other "state" kids so that if one cancels he can be seen sooner.
Now, I admittedly don't know how the system works as far as billing, costs, insurance reimbursements, etc within the medical world. But what I do know is that no kid, insurance, no insurance, private or state, should have to wait 3 months to be seen when there are open appointments now. What the heck is that? It felt super terrible to be hearing that because we couldn't get our own insurance right away that Jaxon could not see a doctor. I'm feeling even worse now - less adequate, but I am also angry. It's not right. How is it that we think this is okay? How do we let good people, who are just trying to get started, get on their feet, stay on their feet, whatever, how do we let them get treated this way? It feels elitest, discriminatory. It feels like being picked last for a sport team or not being asked to the dance.
I am so thankful for this experience, right now. I have always been fortunate, and I still am, but I am seeing how some others feel. I will always do my best and stop to think twice before assuming anything anymore. We don't know people's stories, we don't know why they are where they are. But one thing I do know now is that they help we offer to get people going, get them healthy, it needs to be better.
I don't judge you at all. I think people who are critical of those on state medical are critical towards those who never make plans to leave it. The people who feel entitled to it like a birthright and then plan to stay dependent on it forever.
ReplyDeleteAnd, yes, it is awful that our medical insurance is so f'd up in this country that Jaxon has to wait THREE MONTHS to be seen!! That's absurd!! Preventative care would be to treat him now, before a condition worsens and is likely to be more expensive and therefore more taxing on "the system." it's like all government things - whatever make the least sense and costs the most is usually what happens.
Thanks for the comments Jen. I definitely look upon this as temporary. For me it is a short-term solution that (I thought) would take care of the kids, mostly just-in-case. But, being on Washington medical care has been such an eye opener. I am so glad it is available to people that need it, but I wish no one had to use it and suffer the use of it! It's not fun.
ReplyDelete