Healthcare

The year of yick continues. I mentioned that we started out 2016 with pneumonia and an appendectomy and a whole round of other gnarly stuff. It wasn’t the most graceful entry into a new season.

I’ve mentioned a couple times lately that Sidekick and I have been fighting serious sinus problems for months now. I take after my dad in that department, and the baby takes after me. Not good times come cold and flu season.

I’ve had pneumonia for the last three weeks. Actually, it’s worse than that. I’ve had pneumonia and bronchitis, both coming on the heels of Nate having an appendectomy and all of us getting a gnarly stomach infection called Clostridium difficile. Don’t even get me started. It’s been a tedious beginning to the year.

Open enrollment season is upon us! I don’t know about you, but in our home this time period always involves an intensive sit-down with a big stack of paperwork and coffee. Lots of coffee. Health care choices can sometimes feel like a meandering path. After a few health scares and four back-to-back pregnancies, though, our family has learned that taking time to do a little research up-front can pay off BIG in the end. Here are the steps we’ve taken to select the right health plan for us and become experts on our care options.

I tend to not get political over here, and for good reason. I was a Political Science major in college, and I’ve seen how passionate people become when issues they care about are on the line. Throughout my education, far too much emphasis was placed on the "political" and not enough on the "science." I’m a pretty analytical person. I deal in facts. And the fact is, Americans are fearful about their own health and the health of the country. With regard to ObamaCare, 70% of Americans think our country is on the "wrong track." They’re afraid of too few resources spread too thin, and they worry that their family will get lost in the shuffle.

This has been a common scene for us lately. My sister and I were on vacation last week when I had a minor scare related to the pregnancy. Stubborn baby decided not to move for a few hours. I squeezed in a quick appointment with the women’s care center to run some simple tests and then we were on our way, but not before the billing department and I had a chat about fees. Since I was due for a maternal care check anyway and fetal movement is something my doctors monitor on a regular basis, they were able to get our visit covered under the preventive care provision of the Affordable Care Act.

Health insurance can be a huge stress factor for pregnant women, with co-pays at an all-time high and low cost health insurance being harder than ever to find. When I first found out I was pregnant, Nate was still going through school and I was the only one employed (at a job I was THIS close to quitting, but that’s another story). I remember emerging from the office bathroom early on in my pregnancy – still trying to be all covert and nonchalant about my nausea – to find that one of my coworkers had returned from her leave. I asked her how the baby was and got caught up on the name/height/weight and other statistics before delving into the labor and delivery and all of those details that women inexplicably rehash time and time again.

We’ve been long-time users of TurboTax, and this year is no different. What I love most about the software is that it demystifies the entire reporting process and walks you through all the deductions, healthcare and taxes. This year is a particularly important one as the Affordable Care Act is going into effect, with a new requirement to report health care to the IRS.