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Thursday, February 11, 2010

Round 2

Uggghhh Round 2 scarlet fever. I am $275 in so far this week in Dr. bills and prescripts. Last night 3 more of us came down with it, Myself, My 17 year old son and my 14 year old daughter. I did get the Dr. to agree to just call in antibiotics for the older kids and myself, But she said if the 5 year old twins come down with it she will have to see them in the office, But will only charge for one visit. I can't for the life of me figure out how people do it with no insurance. We knew going into having a large family that alot of our income would go to medical bills and insurance. We do write off alot at the end of the year which helps. My oldest who went in the other day with the baby has no insurance right now, She just got dropped of ours and has to wait 90 days before her new job's insurance kicks in. I haggled with the Dr. which I often do and got her $80 doctor visit down to $60 and after explaining the situation to our pharmacist at Walgreens she found a coupon that took $30 off her prescription, So medication and Dr. visit for her cost $90. Now I realise that I have a large family, But I encourage all to "haggle" with their doctors and make those pharmacies work for you. I often get discounts from these places just for asking. In November My hubby had nasal polyp surgery with the ENT and the same Ent then did the baby's Thyroglossal duct cyst surgery a few weeks ago. I told him that I was going to have a hard time paying him for what I already owed him, Could I just call in after the baby's surgery and tell him he was doing well. I already know how these things go if all is going well, It is 2 minute look to tell you everything is good and costs $80 visit plus for us it is a 100 mile round trip to this particular Dr. so we add in gas and it gets pricey. The Dr. laughed and said I'm glad more people don't know to haggle with me, He said we owed him enough to just bring him in and the office would comp the visit, And I was right, We drove all that way and the Dr. was in the room exactly 1 minute 45 seconds. Not all Dr. will do this, But I have only ever run into a few that would not. When my twins both had their tracheal surgery I joked with the Dr. could I get a BOGO hahaha, She laughed and said well not on the surgery but she only charged me once for the scope and office visits, That saved me over $200 in copay's. Stay well , Michelle ( Going to wash the house down in bleach to kill this bug)

2 comments:

The Saved Quarter said...

Oh my, I'm so glad that you were able to haggle to get a better price on the doctor, but even more importantly, that you went in with your sick kids rather than waiting it out. Scarlet fever can be serious! My great-grandma was one of 11 kids and 3 of them died of Scarlet fever in the days before antibiotics. (5 more died of whooping cough. Can you even imagine losing 8 of 11 kids in childhood? It's heartbreaking to consider!)

Even though they are expensive for a big family, no fun to be on and mess with your gut, they're so much better than the old days when no treatment was available!

I hope your family recovers very soon.

frugalredneck said...

Saved quarter, I totally agree with you, Although I never jump to the DR. office for just a fever, I do not mess around with the kids, As soon as something "funny" pops up I go, Like the rash, Although you still coulda hit me with a pillowcase of bricks and I would have been less shocked then hearing scarlet fever. I cannot even imagine losing any of my kids to those two diseases, You have to be careful with antibiotics, I think, But when needed you take em!!!! We are all doing better, I am just a big baby hahahaha !!!