How Much?!

So, it's been awhile. I'm not going to make excuses, mostly because all the excuses I have start with "The baby...", as in, "The baby needs a lot of feeding!" or "The baby kept me up all night/morning." No, I'm not going to make excuses because I don't believe anyone is actually reading this. I read somewhere (OK, I didn't read it, I just made it up) that you lose half your readership for every week that goes by without a blog post. Since only about 3 people read this blog when posts were made more frequently, I fully expect that the rest of you have dropped off. And I don't blame you. No, I do not.

And maybe it's a good thing you've stopped reading, because I'm going to talk about something serious now, and something that I've talked about before (no, not the baby this time): health care in America.

Recently, due to a lack of having their crap together and an excess of their own heads up their asses, the billing staff failed to acknowledge that our baby was added to my insurance plan when she was born. How this happened, I do not know. When I preregistered, then re-registered at the hospital, they took my information down and I thought things were OK. After I got home with the baby, I added her to my policy and was told the plan would cover her retroactively starting the day she was born. Stupidly, I thought this would actually work. It didn't.

Anyway, long story short, I received a bill in the mail yesterday that demanded I pay them a small fortune for her "care" in the hospital. And let me just clarify, yes, that is sarcasm. If anyone should be paid for the baby's care in the hospital, it should be me. I fed her. I changed her. I rocked her to sleep. They only came in to weigh her and comment about how much hair she had.

But I digress. The amount we were billed, because they believed the baby didn't have health insurance, could cover a good portion of a down payment on a small house. It could buy a used Japanese car. It could cover half a year at UMM when I was attending. And this bill included what I learned was the "uninsured patient discount", which is a seemingly random amount that is knocked off the price out of pity. It wasn't even half of the total price of the care.

My heart literally skipped a beat when I saw the bill. I called Chris in a panic. The next day, when I spoke to the billing representative, it became clear that a mistake had been made, and I came down off the ceiling and rejoined normal life. But for a few hours, I knew the panic that uninsured people must feel when they receive a bill like this.

Here's why it was silly of me to feel that way: I am employed, married to someone who is also employed, have more than enough money in savings to have paid the bill without any effect on my day to day life, and would have been able to replenish the savings within a month or two with a little effort. What if I wasn't employed, wasn't able to get a good job, wasn't married? What if I'd received the full bill for my care and the baby's care, which totaled almost $30,000? What if I had this new baby AND a mountain of medical bills?

At this moment, there are about 50 million people who could potentially receive necessary medical care, and then a bill like this. FIFTY MILLION. When they do get care and can't pay those bills, where does the money come from? The cost is divvied up and passed along to everyone. It's like shoplifting, except instead of stealing a sweater, the uninsured are getting lifesaving medical treatment that they would gladly pay for if they could. The price of the sweater is raised to cover the one that wasn't paid for. The same thing happens with medical care. This is why I was charged about $3000 for each night I spent in the hospital, and I couldn't even get anyone to answer my call light.

My little moment of panic deepened my belief that we need, need, NEED to make health care accessible to everyone. We need a public option--not a forced plan for everyone, but the option of having care provided by the government for those people who don't have a job that gives them health insurance. Health insurance can not continue to be run by companies that seek to make profits, and can not continue to be seen as a luxury item for the middle and upper classes, or those of us lucky enough to continue to be employed.

A friend of mine received an itemized bill for her recent hospital stay. In it, there was a $18 charge for a "mucus disposal system". She figured out this was actually just a fancy term for the box of Kleenex provided in her room. Eighteen dollar Kleenex! This is madness. Let's do something about it.

Hope you're well!
xo

Eat, Sleep, Eat, Repeat.

Writing more often isn't working. There, I said it. You know it, I know it, but I didn't want to dance around it. What am I doing that is more important than writing? To begin with, I'm keeping an infant alive. I'm also napping. To be fair, I'm napping because I'm keeping an infant alive for a few hours in the middle of every night.

So, I'd love to say that I've been doing things that are really funny to write about and interesting for you to read, but that would be a lie. And I'd never, ever lie to you. I may exaggerate for comedic effect, but I'd never flat-out lie. No, basically, my life for the past 4 weeks has been feed the baby, change the baby, feed the baby, wipe up something that has been forcibly ejected from the baby, kiss and cuddle the baby, feed the baby, sleep for about 2 hours, feed the baby, sleep for 2 hours, feed the baby, try to find time to eat and drink something that will turn into food for the baby. So... That's that.

Chris and I are celebrating our 2-year anniversary tomorrow! I can't believe it's been 2 years already. He's the best. He's probably the most laid-back man on the planet when it comes to this whole baby thing. I'll be frantic about something having to do with feeding the baby, or the way things have shifted physically, or a number of post-pregnancy issues and he'll just say, "You're doing a great job. Look how happy the baby is. I love you", or some other comforting thing. And then I really pay attention to how happy and chubby the baby is or how much he still likes me the way I am, and everything's OK until the next "crisis" I mentally create.

But again, I will just say that this baby is the best person in the world and I couldn't ever have imagined feeling this way about another human being. She has turned me into a marshmallow and a grizzly bear at the same time. I feel like I've known her forever, but she's brand new. She's the most beautiful and interesting thing on the planet, even at 3, 4 and 5AM. I'm smitten.

With that, I'm going to leave you. The baby's hungry!
xo