The News: The heart is beating.
The Truth: I honestly don't think we need health insurance.
The Plan: Learn as we go.
The Due Date: 01/26/2010
The Sex: It would be like trying to find a penis on a blueberry.
The Status: Still growing.
The Story: So we turned in the paperwork for the Oregon Health Plan. Now what that does, is get you a medical insurance plan through various providers (you have to pick two, one of them is Kaiser Permanente) and depending on your financial situation, it can be free or low cost or could not qualify. And I've searched online A LOT at health coverage plans and they all suck. If I want to pay around $100 a month, I could get coverage for JUST KRYSTAL that would cover 75% of maternity costs after I pay out a $5,000 deductible... Well, what's the point of that? Or I could pay $200 - $300 a month, again JUST FOR KRYSTAL, and have the plan cover 75% of maternity costs after a deductible of anywhere from $250 to $1,000. Better, but with the $200 a month, still not the greatest option. And my question regarding the Oregon Health Plan is this: are they going to give me a low cost option at a Kaiser health plan with a $5,000 or even $10,000 deductible? Because then I don't want it.
And I'm comparing all of that to this: Since we have no health insurance and we have no idea how long it will take the bureaucrats to make a decision on the Oregon Health Plan, Krystal just went to the Natural Medicine Doctor that I go to. He does prenatal care and is set up with a bunch of midwifes. So for a checkup and a sonogram he charges $60. And he says to come in once a month. Then using a midwife usually runs $2,000 to $3,000, which is less than the deductible of any reasonably affordable health insurance.
I really do think that most people mindlessly pay for health insurance because society hammers into our heads that we "need" it without doing the math and realizing that their premiums + deductibles + copays are making them pay more than if they just found an affordable doctor and paid out of their pocket for each visit. Of course people are worried about some horrible illness that will cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars when the chances of that happening are so low. I actually would prefer to use my natural medicine doctor even if we do get approved for the Oregon Health Plan because he's not a big corporate machine. The hospitals and corporate doctors make you pay for their expensive high tech machines even if they aren't using them on you, where as Dr. Sisco has older machines that are in good shape that do the job just fine. I don't need to pay for Dr. High-Roller's Multimillion dollar full body scanner that he will never use on me, my wife or my baby.
I think $60 a month plus the cost of a midwife is reasonable.
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That is totally reasonable. WA state paid for my baby because I was poor, but I used a midwife and she was awesome. The only thing we paid for was the circumcision, because that's optional. I left that choice up to Adam since he has a penis and I don't...yet. Does the 2000-3000 cover having the baby in a hospital or clinic or are do you have to have the baby at home or something?--Lish
ReplyDeleteI HATE medical insurance too.... Luckily I was still on Mom's Blue Cross when I got PG with Luna in 1998 and she only paid $80 a month and I had no co-pay no deductible for pregnancy care and delivery and it covered Luna until she was like 8 weeks old as still part of me. Then we got to use the military medical until 2003. Then we did the pay as you go public health clinic (before we started making too much money) thing until I started using the school district's insurance a couple years ago. Supposedly CKSD puts in about $600 a month, I add $80 to have Luna insured. I still have tons of co-pays for this and that... but with my High BP, asthma, knee problems and other issues I could never get by for less paying as I go. Just had Luna go through a bunch of allergy testing to find out she is super allergic to a grasses, summer and winter molds, dust mites and cats. She will begin shot therapy to hopefully be 100% immune to these things in about 2 years time. Medical care is a nightmare...
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