Guaranteed Healthcare

Let me preface this with the fact that my husband and I are happy, healthy, mentally stable, non drug addicted average everyday American folks that were just living our lives, paying taxes, raising a family, etc. In the summer of 2004 my husband was not working due to a serious injury at work when he crushed both of his hands in machinery on the job.

At the time of his injury he was the sole bread winner and I was pregnant with our 4th and 5th children (twins). I was unable to get a job due to my high risk pregnancy and here we were without medical insurance. We applied for state medical assistance and were approved for me and my pregnancy and the children. My husband was not eligible. Thankfully he did not need any medical care outside of the countless surgeries he needed on his hands, and that was covered by workers comp.

Before my husbands injury we were fully able to support our growing family and pay our bills on time. After delivering my twins, right after the postpartum check ups I was dropped from the state medical coverage and found myself with nothing. I prayed that I would not get sick or have an accident.

Well...as luck would have it when simply going down the two steps from my house into my garage I slipped off the steps and broke my ankle. I crawled my way into the house from the garage and my husband helped me put ice on my ankle that was quickly swelling up like a baseball and turning black and blue. We dug out an ace bandage and wrapped my ankle and I drove myself to the only place I knew I would be seen, the hospital. The hospital took X-rays and confirmed that my ankle was indeed broken and then proceeded to wrap my ankle in an ace bandage and refer me to a specialist.

Since I did not have insurance I had to pay cash out of pocket to go to the specialist. The cost was $4000 to see the specialist, get a walking cast/boot and a pair of crutches. Needless to say I followed the doctors instructions to let my ankle heal but I could not afford the the follow up visits and I really just hoped for the best that my bones were healed (my ankle still hurts to this day when it is cold...which is about 5 months of the year in Wyoming).

But here is the kicker. When I got the bill from the emergency room visit it was $2000 and $300 of that was for an ACE BANDAGE. Something that I came in with on my foot and we all know costs about $5 bucks at Walgreens. You know that the hospital gets some sort of discount for buying Ace bandages in bulk yet they can charge the uninsured $300 for a something that probably costs them $1.50, AND something that was not even needed as I already had one when I came into the ER.

Being uninsured sucks, sometimes. Hospitals and doctors can charge you whatever they want and there are no checks and balances. There is no common sense to what they charge. Insurance companies have a little sway, they can say "We will pay $20 for an ace bandage" and that is what the hospital charges them. But when you have no insurance the hospital says "We can charge you whatever we want and you have to pay" I have since paid that bill...but I want my $5 Ace bandage back!

The moral of this story...if you are uninsured don't do anything silly like slip off a step and break your ankle. Don't get sick, don't get in a car accident, don't cut your finger and need stitches, because it will cost you an arm & a leg!