Don't you have insurance?!

My wife wrote this note on facebook and I thought I'd share it here on the blog. My wife is truly amazing. I sometimes take for granted how amazing she is. She works so hard for us (it wouldn't work for me to also work because Delaney can't be in a normal daycare and she's so sick and has so many appointments I'd constant miss work anyway). She puts up with so much stress. She pretty easily makes ends meet without medical stuff...she is such a success in my eyes. She even makes it work with medical stuff...and for the most part hides the stress of that task. All I can say is she is amazing...and I am SO blessed that she's MY wife! :)

Jess' note

Okay so I haven't actually had anyone question why we're in the financial situation we're in regarding Delaney but I know some people are thinking it so I thought I'd explain what I've learned so far about our lovely health care system and how well "good" health insurance works.

DEDUCTIBLE
I have to carry the family plan (duh) and I have to have the premium one in order to have them cover 90% of most stuff so my deductible is $2400. That means I have to pay out of my pocket $2400 for every single thing until I hit that magic number. Once I hit $2400 they cover 90% of most things. I'm always very relieved when this happens! *usually around 2 months after the plan year starts in July*

OUT OF POCKET MAX
For the plan I carry there's an out of pocket maximum. So after hitting $2400 I only pay 10% out of pocket until I hit the magic number of $4000. Yeah so I ALWAYS pay $4000 out of pocket. Every single year. Usually before Thanksgiving. OUCH!

Once I hit my out of pocket maximum my out of pocket expenses don't just magically end. That's because that's just for the medical. I'm still paying co-insurance on all the meds and dental and vision (FYI when babies wear glasses they need a new pair more than once a year because they GROW!). ON TOP of the $4000 I've had to shell out from July - Nov.

It also doesn't take in to account all the stuff that insurance doesn't touch but are still necessary. D can't be in the $70 Walmart carseat because it doesn't provide enough support for her floppy little self. She needs the big mama jama that costs about $100 more than that. She also wears braces on her legs so that means that she needs special socks (they do not make knee socks for kids that have legs this short!) and then special shoes to go over the braces (size 5 EXTRA WIDE?). Every single little thing for this kiddo has to be "special." Special apparently means really expensive. She also can't ride in a stoller because they don't provide enough support. They make ones that provide extra support but they're normally $300-400 so we don't exactly have one. We're just glad she's still little enough to be carried.

So how does one income pay for all this? Not very well apparently. My base pay with my normal three 12 hour shifts a week is plenty to pay for the bills I have but when you add $5-7k a year to it, things get a little tight. So in order to off set this I've been working four 12 hour shifts a week most weeks in order to keep us out of bankruptcy. It wears on ya after a while. I miss my kids. I miss my wife. I wish I could help more at home. It's hard.

Sooooo there's my explanation of why this fundraiser came to be. I know no one asked but I'm the type of fiercely independent person that felt the need to explain myself. I do not enjoy asking for help. It makes my skin crawl. It makes me feel like crap. But I have to. I'm doing my very best and it's still not been good enough. My wish is that Delaney's medical expenses will eventually slow down and things will change for the better. Until then I have to ask for help.

And you've delivered! Kathy and I have been so overwhelmed by the outpouring of support for us and our family. We feel so blessed to have all of you in our life. Our hearts are so full and it's so nice to know that we had this huge village of people supporting us that we didn't even know were there. I guess that's what you find when you do finally ask for help. :)