Baby Steps: Technicalities

I consider myself lucky every day that I work for a company that offers many benefits above and beyond our paycheck. I can assuredly say that the health insurance we have is a big reason why my husband and I have been able to proceed with the doctor appointments, consultations and surgery in our efforts to become parents.

We are well versed in the value of having health insurance. When we met, we were both uninsured. We were both bartending and just couldn’t seem to find a few extra hundred dollars each month for something that doesn’t offer any immediate and tangible benefit. What can I say – we were young and naïve!

Unfortunately, that proved to be an obstacle when he got so sick I literally had to drag him into the ER. I’ve told you before how much he hates doctors – so you can imagine how weak he must’ve been for me to pull that off! He’d had a stomach bug so bad he didn’t keep anything down for almost four days…so it wasn’t too terribly tough.

A few hours after walking through the ER door, we left with very little to show for the visit. We were out $350 just for showing up. The docs hooked him up to an IV of liquid morphine and handed us a note that said he needed to stick to the “BRAT” diet. I think it was bananas, rice, apple sauce and toast. The bill came a few months later…let’s just say it was in the four digit range.

So now – as a New Year approaches – we are picking and choosing our health coverage with a healthy respect for how valuable it can be. And I’m just starting to learn what fertility treatments do and do not qualify. I know there are people out there who’ve been through this before – any rules of thumb we should know?