After publishing my last post about my insurance coverage I realized we will definitely max out next year’s medical deductible. I suppose all that worry over squeezing in prescriptions and doctor’s visits was rather pointless. According to the medical records my son’s birth cost $8,400. The hospital billed my insurance company $4000 and the obstetrician charged an additional $4,400. It goes without saying that our $3000 deductible will most likely be met.
Back in 2011 our insurance covered the majority of these bills. I paid $1575 out of pocket, primarily in the form of co-pays and co-insurance, using the money set aside in my FSA fund. This time around I’ll have to pay the entire deductible before the insurance company will kick in any money.
I also realized that the addition of a new family member will increase our monthly premium by $171.
Our deductible also applies to prescription drugs, so I’m pretty certain I’ll have to pay the full amount on all refills until our deductible is met. I transferred my prenatal vitamin to a new pharmacy in order to earn $25 in store credit. I’m not certain the transfer was really worth the effort.
I used a special money saving coupon with this particular vitamin and the new pharmacy couldn’t figure out how to apply the discount. It took thirty minutes of waiting around, a follow up phone call and ten minutes back in the store the following day to get everything sorted out. I thought the issue was with my insurance coverage, but it turns out that I spent all that time waiting around for a $20 coupon.
Unfortunately I got stuck in limbo waiting for the problem to be resolved. I couldn’t go back to the original pharmacy because the prescription had already been transferred and I couldn’t move forward with the new pharmacy because they couldn’t figure out the billing situation.
Although the issue was finally resolved I do wish it hadn’t taken so long to do so. When am I going to learn to stay away from coupons?
I used the store credit to buy four packs of diapers and two boxes of tissues. I paid $1.30 for all six items, but I’m still not sure it was worth all that extra effort.
Wowzers baby delivery charges! We had a home birth and had to cover our own Tylenol and Maternity pads and I was complaining a little. Yay Canada.
It’s funny the costs you don’t think of when you’re self-employed. For me it was the employee and employer portions of the Canada Pension Plan.
Your prescription is sorted now, so there shouldn’t be any more issues. For your 20 minutes, you got free diapers, I’d say that’s cause for celebration! But it might be a while before you use a coupon again, eh?
Perhaps we should consider moving to Canada 🙂