August 20

    I called the healthcare office today to see why they haven’t called us.  We got a letter on Aug. 6th saying that we qualified for Medicaid and that they would be calling to let us know all the details.  

    They have a pre-recorded message that basically says it will take 45 days to process applications after you have been qualified, so if it hasn’t been at least 45 days from your letter then don’t bother their customer service agents.  My kids loose their health coverage in 10 days and I shouldn’t bother your customer service people.  

     I am still struggling to understand how we can be declared eligible and our coverage begin on the date of the letter (August 6th) but they need another 45 days to process the paperwork and get us policy information.  Welcome to things run by the federal government.

     This has also lead me to consider the point, purpose and value of health insurance in general.  Once we are back on our feet, we will be paying over $1000/month for medical insurance and budgeting and other $150 for copays and prescriptions.  That is $13,800 per year.  I have a hard time believing that we would actually spend that in a normal year without insurance, but that is how they get you.  No one can be sure they will have a normal hospital free year, especially when you have 3 kids.  There are options with cheaper premiums but the deductibles are $10k to $16k, which completely defeats the purpose of insurance to begin with.  

Update (August 26th)- I refilled my 2 prescriptions last week so I would have them when our insurance coverage ended.  They came today and according to the papers with them the regular cost was over $1000.  These aren’t new medications but routine birth control and ADHD meds.  When you consider my oldest also has ADHD, my son has asthma and excema, two of us carry Epipens for severe allergies and we do occasionally get sick, maybe we would spend over $13,800 in a year without the insurance.