I think if I have any motivation to start saving more - my son's health is one major reason.
The doctor told me yesterday she suspects he has Thalassemia, a genetic blood disorder. He's had frequent ear infections, nosebleeds, a mild anemia that is unresponsive to iron supplements, and an elevated platelet count for all of his CBCs in the past year.
I'm not really certain but the one thing do know is I need to start saving up to pay for copays and deductibles now.
For years we've taken for granted that healthcare is/was 100% free.
But I don't trust the military healthcare facilities anymore so I need to switch him from Prime to Standard so I can see a civilian provider without a referral. So for the first time I will need to think about copays & deductibles. $300 annual copay and 15-20% deductible with a $1000 catastrophic cap. Not bad by a long shot... but its also something that has never been in our budget before.
I hope they can figure out what it is though. I can do all the searching I want on the internet, but I'm not a medical professional so I don't know - and all I may accomplish is scaring myself in the end.
There are a few silver linings to this... and perhaps makes me think even more about how life has a way of working itself out. Well the first one is I read that a common treatment is blood transfusions, so when I read that I thought "Thank god he's a universal recipient." But the other thing is really more telling.... I remember how my baby girl happened so suddenly, still don't even know when she happened - and yet, if I had listened to DH and had an abortion we wouldn't have her or her cord blood. Which I did read that bone marrow or stem cell transplants from cord blood have cured some children of Thalassemia. What if the whole reason his litte sister happened was to help him out?
We'll see though... but it does make me wonder sometimes.
Life is sort of upside down
May 30th, 2008 at 02:54 pm
May 30th, 2008 at 11:18 pm 1212189486
I would suggest you do some additional non-emotional research into the matter. This should not put you deeper in debt. You have already suggested you have an unusual sort of luck. Perhaps you should go with it.
True, you are not a medical professional but increasingly, these decisions are left to us and you cannot do enough investigating.
Good luck,
Paul
May 31st, 2008 at 10:08 am 1212228500
My husband is a Navy healthcare provider as well and doesn't want the Navy touching him, myself or the kids. The Navy has an approach of treating symptoms and providing maintenance, not actually finding out what is wrong. When my DH went in for a consult for a vasectomy, he walked into a room with 25 other guys, they showed a video, and then allowed men to sign up for the procedure. NO PHYSICAL EXAM WHATSOEVER!
Even with my last pregnancy, the doctors completely brushed off the echogenic focus on my daughters heart. When I swithed to a civilian they looked further into it and monitored me more closely to find out my baby had low fluid and needed to be induced early. This would have gone unnoticed by the Navy.
And with my son, I was growing increasingly frustrated because there was no continuity of care. Everytime I took him into an appointment it was never the same person & I'd have to reiterate what I knew about the situation (which isn't much) and their own departments don't talk to each other which is why the family practitioner sent us to Endocrinology only for the endocrinologist to say "I don't know why you're here, he's fine." And believe it or not, this is just a SMALL FRACTION of what I've experienced in the 10 years I've had with military medicine.
So although I don't want to spend money for healthcare, I feel like in order to get the answers we need faster - I'm just going to have to do it.