Guaranteed Healthcare

I'm a technical writer and editor and am lucky to be working as a contractor in aerospace. I have insurance, but it's so bad it doesn't even cover 10 percent of the total costs of my surgery.

I just found out that I have gall stones. I've had 4 "attacks" and on Memorial Day I had the worst one. I went to the emergency room closest to my home (I was in terrible pain)...and they diagnosed me and told me I need to have my gall bladder removed. They didn't even want to let me out of the hospital that night, but I convinced them I needed to.

I thought my insurance would cover most of it...and what it didn't cover, I would work with the hospital to get a payment plan in place. I had to cancel my surgery because the hospital wouldn't do the work until I paid $25,000 up front.

This is unbelievable to me. I've never had anything like this happen before. I'm LUCKY to have ANY insurance as I am a contractor, working through a contracting agency. I'm going to see another doctor and am hoping that the hospital he's affiliated with will let me make payments. I make 1/2 the salary I did 5 years ago and I'm single, so I'm barely making ends me. This gall bladder thing is a huge surprise... and a bad one. I don't know how I'll get through it.

Julia