Monday, April 21, 2008

Health Insurance



Today I get a letter from my girls' pediatrician saying that they no longer accept our insurance. Great! Just what I wanted to hear on a Monday morning. So I call the doc and see how much it will cost for the girls next round of vaccines if we pay cash. After the 30% discount for paying cash, it would have been about $400 for kid # and $600 for kid #2! Oh yeah and that doesn't include the $144 per kid physical charge.

Just when I am about to bang my head on the desk, the billing guy says "But why don't you just take them to the health department? They charge a flat fee."

Ok, I said.

I called the health department. Wanna know what they charge? $25.00. Yes, that's right twenty-five dollars. Not $25.00 per vaccine. Nope. They charge a $25.00 "office fee" and then the vaccines are free.

Feeling like this is sounding way too good to be true, I ask her if that's based on your income, is it a sliding scale? (We are self employed so we wouldn't likely qualify)

NOPE!
They just charge $25.00.
No strings.
No deductible.
No premiums.
Just twenty five stinking dollars.

2 comments:

Brianne Hudgins Photography said...

Hey ~ there's a reason we pay so much in taxes! At least you found a program where you can get a little service back for your bi-weekly payment!

Anonymous said...

but have you ever stepped foot in the health dept? hello skeeve city