Dear Vicky,

Dear Vicky from the pediatricians office,
Thank you so much for being the only person to help me today. You see, we got kicked off of Declan's health insurance in October, and were not informed. We probably got some notice saying that if I failed to send in Declan's birth certificate that we would be kicked off at some point, but since I thought I filled out a paper saying for them to find it because he was born in MA, I thought we were all set. Therefore, I didn't know that we were kicked off and went to the Dr a couple of times in the interim. I wouldn't have done this if I had known we didn't have health insurance.

Now we have a bill of close to $500 for the Dr literally glancing in his ear and declaring he had an ear infection (I knew that one), looking at his hand when it got burned and told me to put bacitracin on it (knew that before I went in too), and his 9 month check up. How they can possibly charge so much for not doing a whole lot I don't quite understand.

Anyway, so Masshealth told me to call Health Safety Net. So I did. And after not being able to get ahold of anyone on the phone for two days, they finally called me back and told me there was nothing they could do to help me because it was a private physician. If I had gone somewhere else they could have helped me. Hello! I wouldn't have gone there if I had known that I wasn't covered in the first place! So... zero help... just attitude.

Also, my ear is killing me. I've had a cold/sinus thing for the last week and it has finally escalated to the point where I'm actually ready to see a Dr. I never go to the Dr. I finally got my paperwork for my health insurance (we are switching to Logan's work insurance in about a month, once he has been full time for three months) with a physician on it. I called them and since I haven't been there before, they can't see me. In fact, not only can they not see me today, but they can't see me for a couple of weeks. I won't be sick still then! And that doesn't help me get better today at all! And I'll be switching health insurance anyway! This is why I don't go to the Dr. It is just so complicated.

So I was in tears. Declan was fighting a nap and was also in tears. I'm pretty sure Logan didn't really know what to do with the two thirds of his family that was breaking down, and I get a phone call from the physician's office. The woman on the phone recognized that I was sick, and was sympathetic. She is going to do her best to try to get some of the costs down, and will call me back on Monday to give me some time to calm down from the whole situation. Thank you. Thank you for being understanding and kind and actually trying to help me out. I wish you knew how much you even realizing that I wasn't feeling well helped.

Sometimes being a grown up really stinks.

Thanks again,
Kate