My first "husbandly duty" at 3:00 a.m.

[firstbase32]

So the other day my wife wasn''t feeling too well and because we dont'' have insurance I rushed to the store to pick up some cold meds and a thermometer. She took some medecine and we laid dow nto go to bed and at 3:00 a.m. she woke me up and said she was really sick. I reached over and put my hand on her to kind of calm her down...halfway so that I could go back to sleep...and halfway so that I could maek sure she was ok. When I touched her she was VERY hot and I got up immediately. We took her temp. and it was 101.7...which is VERY high for her becaus she usually has a below average temp. We stayed up until about 4:15 a.m. watching episodes of Full House that she ahd recorded on our DVR.....I sat there on the couch half asleep thinking...I am now officially an adult because I''m up nursing my wife in the middle of the night haha.....she began feeling better the past couple of days...but today in class she leaned over and said she thought her throat was starting to hurt again............NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! haha......stupid changing of the seasons!

 

[Independent Gal]

Aww. That''s sweet FirstBase! Glad your wife is feeling better.

Is there no way you two could get insurance under Medicaire or something? That''s so scary. I''m still not sure how it all works in this country, only that it seems sooooo much more complicated and expensive than anywhere else I''ve ever lived! There must be a better way! In fact, I wonder if there exists a worse way?!?

 

[firstbase32]

Her mom works for Blue Cross Blue Shield...so we''ve looked into the different insurance stuff and decided it wasn''t worth it. The only reason we woudl want it is for if she got pregnant and we talked to a friend of ours who is is marreid and just had a baby and still is giogn to school...and she gave some info to my wife about some program where she can get her birth control free and also all the examinations that you women need to get done. Although we''re college students and are by no means starving or going without food we''re going to use that so that way we don''t have to spend the $$ on birth control and we can make sure she gets all her appointments in.

I''m not too worried about having to go to the doctor for anything...i haven''t gone since I''ve been in college and I''m getting ready to graduate in May. Once May comes we''re going to find a position in a church that offers good insurance and stuff so then we''ll be ok. It''s just getting to that May deadline. I''ve even gave up playing intermurals because I dont'' want to do somethign stupid and have to go to the hospital and pay a ton of money.

 

[anchor31]

Hey firstbase, nice to see you again!

I''m sorry to hear your wife wasn''t feeling so well. I can''t believe your college doesn''t have an insurance program for students, but I''m in a different country so I guess things are different.

 

[zoebartlett]

You sound like a very wonderful husband! I''m sorry you''re having such issues with health insurance. I hope your wife feels better soon.

 

[musey]

Date: 9/18/2007 4:25:08 PM
Author: anchor31
Hey firstbase, nice to see you again!

I'm sorry to hear your wife wasn't feeling so well. I can't believe your college doesn't have an insurance program for students, but I'm in a different country so I guess things are different.

No, mine does. Between my brothers and I, we've been to 5 different colleges (all in the US) and we all got health insurance either included in the tuition cost or for a small fee tacked on to tuition. My alma mater covered me up to 6 months after graduating, too.

I can't fathom going without health insurance. You'd only need it if she got pregnant? What if, god forbid, one of you is injured in a car accident? Or develops cancer, and needs surgery? You'll just pay out-of-pocket? Or go for homeopathic remedies? What happens when the medical bills start climbing over 1- or 10- 50,000?

Very basic health insurance in my area costs about $40/month, and I live in a very expensive city. It never feels worth it until one of you gets sick or injured, but then it's too late. BELIEVE me, I know. I was raised by an ER physician... you would not BELIEVE how stuck people get without health insurance, especially in an emergency situation. People DIE because of it.

Sorry, I know that's not what this thread is about but...

 

[firstbase32]

Our college does offer the insurance, but it is no where near worth anything. It pretty much only covers stuff like the VERY VERY major stuff and it''s insanely expensive. Most of our friends that got married this summer are going without insurance as well just because the school doesn''t help. The only help they give is by giving a packet of info that they have from this company. We''ve looked around and could find some for around $200 for the both of us. It was kind of a thing that we just looked at and said that we couldn''t see paying that much insane amount of money. We''re kind of just walking by faith that He will protect us. Both of us are going into the ministry and just hoping for the best. Do any of you guys have any suggestions for us to look at first I was frekaing out about it, but her mom kind of calmed me down.

 

[anchor31]

Date: 9/18/2007 8:09:35 PM
Author: musey

Date: 9/18/2007 4:25:08 PM
Author: anchor31
Hey firstbase, nice to see you again!

I''m sorry to hear your wife wasn''t feeling so well. I can''t believe your college doesn''t have an insurance program for students, but I''m in a different country so I guess things are different.

No, mine does. Between my brothers and I, we''ve been to 5 different colleges (all in the US) and we all got health insurance either included in the tuition cost or for a small fee tacked on to tuition. My alma mater covered me up to 6 months after graduating, too.

I can''t fathom going without health insurance. You''d only need it if she got pregnant? What if, god forbid, one of you is injured in a car accident? Or develops cancer, and needs surgery? You''ll just pay out-of-pocket? Or go for homeopathic remedies? What happens when the medical bills start climbing over 1- or 10- 50,000?

Very basic health insurance in my area costs about $40/month, and I live in a very expensive city. It never feels worth it until one of you gets sick or injured, but then it''s too late. BELIEVE me, I know. I was raised by an ER physician... you would not BELIEVE how stuck people get without health insurance, especially in an emergency situation. People DIE because of it.

Sorry, I know that''s not what this thread is about but...

I''m relieved to hear that. My college offers complete health and dental coverage to full-time students who need it, for about $66CAN a semester.

I have to say I''m still pretty horrified by your situation, firstbase... What about dentist appointments, optometry, basic medical checkups? I trust in God also, but sometimes things happen to the best of us.

 

[firstbase32]

We both went to the doctor right before the wedding, had our eyes checked, visited the dentist and everything so that way we could do our best for the next year....we graduate in may...so i gues just pray that ntohing happens until may...i know it''s something that could realy bite us in the butt, but from what we saw the stuff we can afford isn''t worth paying and the stuff that we''d need is far mroe than we can afford.

 

[Independent Gal]

It couldn''t just bite you in the butt, it could destroy your lives! Health costs for the uninsured are the number 1 cause of bankruptcy. Just as an example, my FI gets migraines. They got more frequent and worse, so he went to the doctor to get an MRI and make sure nothing was seriously wrong. We have insurance, so the out of pocket cost was $60. But the bill as a whole? For that one appointment? Was over $1400.

Imagine one of you gets cancer or something (heaven forbid). Since you''re poor (as students, I assume you''re not rolling in it!), I think a lot of states provide health coverage. And there are charities that do as well. Can you look into that? Or maybe your church can help you?

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Firstbase, you bring up a very critical problem in the US. There are millions of people without health insurance. Our son went back to school and is working part-time, and my husband was able to continue his insurance under Cobra at $200 a month. We are paying for it, because there is no way he could. That is really cheap compared to most private health insurance. Most of those college policies that I''ve seen cover very little. I hate to see us end up with socialized medicine, but I am afraid it is coming out of necessity. A friend of mine''s husband lost his job, and it would be $900 a month for the two of them for private BCBS insurance. They can''t do that either.

That was sweet of you to take such good care of her!

 

[poptart]

Hey there! It was so nice of you to take care of your wife like that... up until 4 am, lol! Just a plea here... PLEASE get health insurance. My DH and I are both 21 and we have insurance... his through the military, mine through my job. But before that I had it through my school. Please look over it and consider it. You never know what can happen. Just a thought.

*M*

 

[firstbase32]

It just sucks because the school makes it appear that it''s not that big of a deal, although we both know it is. We went to the county health place earlier this summer and asked if there was any info we could get from there...the lady said they had a couple of options, but when we said we didn''t have a kid she said there was nothing for us.

Is that cobra stuff pretty decent? I''ll check it out now.

 

[musey]

Date: 9/21/2007 10:18:01 AM
Author: firstbase32
It just sucks because the school makes it appear that it''s not that big of a deal, although we both know it is. We went to the county health place earlier this summer and asked if there was any info we could get from there...the lady said they had a couple of options, but when we said we didn''t have a kid she said there was nothing for us.

Is that cobra stuff pretty decent? I''ll check it out now.

Check http://www.ehealthinsurance.com/

That''s what I did. Ended up declaring myself as a dependent on FI''s work-provided insurance instead, but my quotes were between $40-120/month for more basic coverage. I live in the Los Angeles area. Likely to be cheaper most anywhere.

 

[Daydreamer7130]

Date: 9/21/2007 12:03:39 PM
Author: musey

Date: 9/21/2007 10:18:01 AM
Author: firstbase32
It just sucks because the school makes it appear that it''s not that big of a deal, although we both know it is. We went to the county health place earlier this summer and asked if there was any info we could get from there...the lady said they had a couple of options, but when we said we didn''t have a kid she said there was nothing for us.

Is that cobra stuff pretty decent? I''ll check it out now.

Check http://www.ehealthinsurance.com/

That''s what I did. Ended up declaring myself as a dependent on FI''s work-provided insurance instead, but my quotes were between $40-120/month for more basic coverage. I live in the Los Angeles area. Likely to be cheaper most anywhere.

ABSOLUELY!!! Right on with the information!!

I am a self-contracting RN and this is where I received my insurance from. Please, do yourself and your wife a huge favor and check into this site. I cannot begin to tell you the horror stories I have literally seen and heard myself. It''s bittersweet working in this field. I am also a Master''s student for board certification as a family nurse practitioner so now I see things from the provider''s end also. I think I have all the angles covered here (LOL)!

Please! It is worth a look at least! When you are young, life seems to happen to other people. Just remember you can be careful all you want in life, but you cannot control other people''s behavior. If you are in a car being careful, you just don''t know what another driver will and can do... an accident can happen.. it''s not your fault but you are going to suffer/pay for it.

 

[Haven]

Awww, what a sweet husband you are!

I''m going to add to the urgent pleas for you to get insured, and to get insured NOW!

I worked as an adjunct instructor for various colleges the first few years after I was finished with school, and since I wasn''t full-time anywhere I was not eligible for group medical coverage. SO, I purchased individual coverage through Unicare, I believe it was called Unicare 2000 (as in, I had a $2000 deductible.) The coverage was only $85 a month, and it covered 4 office visits a year and it had a prescription plan. I''m sure prices have gone up a bit in the four years since I''ve used this coverage, but even if it costs a few hundred dollars a month it is ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY to have medical insurance!

Okay, perhaps I''m repeating what everyone else has said already, so I''m going to share a personal story in an attempt to persuade you: when I was 23 (and using that individual Unicare insurance) I was diagnosed with cervical cancer. I had a few minor procedures to remove the cancerous cells, everything was done quickly and effectively, and it was a relatively easy process. Now, if I hadn''t been covered, I would have had to pay tens of thousands of dollars out of pocket, AND I would have likely been denied by my current employer''s medical insurance (BCBS) because I would have a preexisting condition. In other words, I''d be SOL for the rest of my life. Or I''d have to pay ENORMOUS premiums for insurance.

And, by the way, I am extremely healthy--I''m an athlete, I eat organic, I don''t take medicine or drink caffeine, or smoke, yadda yadda yadda. And I don''t have HPV, which is usually the cause of cervical cancer, so it was even harder to diagnose--thank goodness I had the luxury of medical insurance so I could go to the doctor without worrying about how much that extra visit would cost. (Turns out, it would have cost me my life.)

So please get coverage, and get it now.