It took me about the whole of first grade for my two front teeth to grow in and they made me go to SPEECH THERAPY for it. Every day I would count out a cup of beans--sixty one, sixty two... Seriously, I was never going to get any better at it until I grew teeth and the whole experience was just horrid. "Try harder, Lisa, you can do it." Do what, grow teeth, what if they had never come in. What if my parents had to buy those two front teeth. Unfortunately, I've had to have several crowns--they cost somewhere in the vicinity of $600, so how much would it cost to implant two teeth. We had a joke last year that Pierce was getting braces for his birthday--he really did, the very day after his 11th birthday, he received a lovely palate expander. He was not as appreciative as the $5000 price tag would lead you to expect... But no, we have never really given our kids medical services as a gift, but what if we had to. What if paying for medical services had to come as a tradeoff for something else?
I have seen averages for breast cancer treatment of $250,000-$500,000--here in Columbia that would buy a nice house. Childhood cancer, two years of leukemia treatments can easily run over a million dollars. Bo's bills right now even without surgery are close to $50,000--but we have great insurance, and except for our out-of-system consults, we will probably not have to pay more than about $500. But even that fact still changes our life forever. Either Jay or I will need to be tied to a group health insurance plan forever. Under most other plans his condition would be considered pre-existing, and as a childhood cancer patient, that means a lot of insurance companies would consider any cancer pre-existing for the rest of his life. Since he will probably have at least one recurrence, without group coverage, we would have to pay the next surgeries. Jay loves his job and has never really considered another field, and I have longed to go back to government for a long time, so we are just wired for stable group health insurance jobs.
But what about the people who aren't? I depend on my auto mechanic, my plumber, electrician, all the people, most of our population, in fact, who work in small businesses that rely on the private health insurance system to take care of them and their families. When you spend enough time in a Children's Hospital, you see the toll it takes on families. Lots of children don't have people to be with them because their parents HAVE to work every day to keep income or whatever insurance they do have. How scary must it be for a child to have to sit alone through a chemo treatment, or a night after surgery with no one to hold their hand. Don't get me wrong, nurses are FANTASTIC, but they are not the same as the constant presence of a loving family member.
What if we had to just go with our first diagnosis because we had to decide that for financial reasons, three other opinions were not possible. What if, faced with a rare treatable cancer with clinical trials at another institution, we couldn't even consider it, for financial reasons. And now, we have every reason to think and hope that Bo will live a long and healthy life. But what if, for financial reasons he can't pursue his desired career. This diagnosis will cost him for the rest of his life, it will cost him in higher life insurance and poor access to health insurance.
So, Jay is finally glad I wouldn't let him get a new house this year--I hate moving and it was not the fun I was looking for right now! We need to save every penny we can to make sure that Bo CAN live a long and healthy life and have access to the best treatment there is forever. And we can do that, we are simple people with simple needs and relatively good earnings potential--but what about the people who can't? Do we really believe our medical system is optimal--shouldn't we be pro-life forever and make sure every child, of every parent, not just the poorest kids, but the kids of our auto mechanics and plumbers, contractors, electricians--the hard working independent entrepreneurs who make our country work--have access to the care they need when they need it?
I promise I am not going to make my blog political, but spend just one day in pediatric inpatient and listen to all the stories of people who lost their jobs because they had too many medical appointments, single moms with other kids and no family, people who travel long distances to a larger hospital to get better care, but then also have to leave jobs and health insurance behind. What if all you could get your child for Christmas for the next ten years was installments on your 20% of a $1 million cancer bill? With a heavy heart for the noble and selfless people I met in the hospital, and Taci and Jacqueline who I think about every day, Lisa
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As a single mother of a diabetic child I have had to weigh getting a job with group medical insurance (in the nursing field) versus having a job that will allow me to leave work when my son needs me, either for illness, numerous dr visits, or to "help" the school nurse with his care. Working as a nurse would make it very difficult to leave when I need to. I chose to take a job with very flexible hours, an extremely understanding boss, and the knowledge that I would have to limit my income (refusing raises) to allow my son to qualify for Medicaid. I checked into private insurance, as is required by Medicaid. Premiums, for a diabetic child his age, run anywhere from $800.00-$2,000.00 PER MONTH, and the ins would not cover anything related to his diabetes for the first year, if he weren't turned down, which he probably would be. His supplies, if I paid out of pocket, run $1,000.oo per month. Medicaid covers all those things, and I do pay a premium every month. It so sad that in this rich, rich country parents have to choose.
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