Yes, it stinks, but my husband works for a small company, and every year they review their insurance options and they do what they can afford to pay. For the last 3 years we've had 3 different Insurance companies. So, this is one of the insurance plans that they can afford, but it puts more burden on us. In this case, I can't really blame the insurance company, but the economy. My husband is in the carpet business, and the recession finally caught up to them and his employers are doing the best that they can. So, now more comes out of his paycheck as they can no longer pay for all of his insurance. So he is paying more each month for insurance and we feel we can't afford to see the doctor because of the high deductible....which is rather weird to me. We're just hoping that the company can hang on. I won't be on Medicare for another year and a half, and if they go out of business, I have no idea what will happen. I don't know if we could afford Cobra. It's scary.
My husband was reading about the Canadian health care in the paper, and the comment was made something to the effect of: yes, you may have to wait to get treatment, but nobody goes bankrupt in Canada because of health problems." I think many people are one health crisis away from living on the street. it's sad, sad, sad.
I did talk with the nice lady in charge of the financial things at the hospital and she told me about payment options, but still..almost $90 a month is a steep payment to add to the monthly budget. We're trying to get RID of our debt, instead of adding to it. Having an AN has been an expensive proposition. I find it very stressful.
Best of luck to you,
Sue in Vancouver USA
