Eek!

Remember my post about the emergency room visit?

So, after the insurance finished their negotiations we owe ... wait for it ... $1,282.07. This is 2 mortgage payments. A year's worth of property taxes. A year's worth of auto insurance. Guess what just came due in the last 2 months? Property taxes and auto insurance. Guess who doesn't have any free money right now? Yep, me. Of course we haven't gotten an actual bill from the hospital yet so we should have time to gather some money from our long term savings.

Now before insurance negotiated it was $3,225, so we're paying approximately 40% of the bill. And Oceanus has now met his deductible for the year.

I thought we had better insurance than this and I'm rather pissed. I know we did last year and assumed the insurance was the same this year. Apparently there was a change in the policy this year (and an increase in premium!). Last year we had an emergency room co-pay and that was it (or so said the insurance policy we were given). This year, we pay all up to the deductible and then 30% of the remaining. Of course, we benefit from the negotiation power. A family without insurance would be expected to pay the full amount and would probably have their paycheck garnished to cover it all, plus interest and attorneys' fees.