( this is my first diary. Please be nice! )
I am angry. It is not that red hot kind of anger that provides a head rush when someone cuts you off in traffic or is rude to your child. It is not that irritation when you drop your purse getting out of the car and juggling groceries, school books etc. No, this is more of a slow burning kind of anger. The kind that quietly simmers in the background, little embers popping up while watching the news or having a conversation about the 'state of the nation'. I think today the fire has been fed enough to take over.
My sister was sent a bill from her pediatrician today. She has three children ages almost 7, 3 and 7 months. She attends school 3 nights a week. Her husband is an manager at Applebees and of course works strange hours. I was up on the babysitting rotation tonight. When I got there she tells me the story of this bill.
Apparently before her youngest daughther was born in April she, like any good mother, contacted the insurance company to make sure Kaitlyn was added to their insurance. She was told it was taken care of. Not long after Kaitlyn was born my sister called the insurance company to inquire about the identification card and was told that it would be sent along with a paper to be signed but that Kaitlyn was covered. At one point the pediatricians office called and was told the same thing. As you might imagine my sister was a bit confused when she recieved a 2000.00 bill from the pediatricans office. Come to find out that Kaitlyn was only covered for the first 31 days of her life and her parents were to call at that point to have it continued. The insurance company Blue Cross/Blue Shield was very sorry for the misunderstanding. Not sorry enough to pay the bills but sorry. This is on top of 500.00 for my brother in laws kidney stone surgery. 1200.00 the insurance company did not cover for Kaitlyn's birth. And other various bills. Nor to mention 40.00 copayments everytime one of the three gets sick (the older has asthma) and medicine copays. They will most likely end up declaring backruptcy.
I am angry. When did we become this country? How did we become this country? I know that electing Obama is a step in the right direction, but is it a step taken too late for too many? We all know the statistics; approximately half of all bankruptcies are caused by medical bills. In America! The same America my nephew is learning about in first grade. The one where the nice little pilgrims came over and had lunch with the nice little Indians and everyone lived happily every after. The one with purple mountain majesties and amber waves of grain. The greatest country in the world and we declare bankruptcy because we get sick. I know that everyone knows this. I am preaching to the choir. But I am also asking for some good concrete ideas. The fire is burning too hot and too fast now. I am too angry to continue to accept this. But I have no idea where to start changing it. What does one person do? What will it take to prevent this from happening again?