So let me tell you a story that happened to me today.
In the past since I've begun to pay my own way and have had to get health insurance and pay for anything uncovered I have been screwed pretty much every time. I am terrified to go to the doctor, because of how much it will end up costing me. A year ago I had a normal female exam. (I didn't even need to be tested for STDs) In addition to my co-pay of $50 and the fact that I paid my insurance company (American Republic Insurance) $150 a month I also ended up owing around $300 to be told everything looked fine and that I could have a prescription for birth control. The same thing I have heard for the previous 5 years.
So here I am now a year later and I find myself in need of another prescription. I've switched to a different health insurance (Allstate, through my employer HyVee) which is about $160 a month and only a $25 co-pay. This year I thought that I would be able to do things a little easier and use a cheaper method, one designed for people who don't make that much. Planned Parenthood. They are supposed to be affordable or free. And they sounded like exactly the kind of people I needed. After all, I wanted help to make a decision about my best birth control option so that I can get pregnant when we are ready in about a year.
I went in only to find out they don't honor my insurance and that at $35,000 a year John and I make too much money to even qualify for the sliding scale! It isn't just that it wouldn't be free, I don't even qualify for a discount. That means I'd have to pay $205 dollars for the consult plus $24 a month for birth control. Although the nurse reiterated to me that the $205 doesn't have to be paid today, just within 3 months. I'm sorry if I don't have the money now $200 isn't going to fall out of the sky tomorrow! Here I thought that having trouble paying the bills every month would mean the government would cut me some slack when I tried to do the right thing and keep from bringing extra babies, babies that neither I nor the government can afford to take care of considering we are both in debt. I was wrong. I'm not sure how little you have to make to be considered "poor" but apparently we aren't there...
I made me literally sick to realize my current situation. The amount of money I have paid to insurance since starting at HyVee would be enough to pay not only for the visit, but also a full year of birth control. Now instead I have to find a doctor on the list, pay $25 plus whatever they decide they don't want to cover. AND then $15 a month for birth control. Or we can switch to another method, though mind you that winds up costing a decent amount as well, or we can take or chances and hope we don't end up with even more costs that we can't afford right now. I suppose I should say in Allstate's defense they haven't screwed me over. But I can't help adding "yet" to the end of that.
All in all I just don't know how to be proud to live in a country that punishes me for trying to do the responsible adult thing.
