Monday, September 12, 2011

He got pricey all of a sudden

G-man has always been pretty healthy.  Yeah, he gets a cold or whatever....but on an on-going basis, he doesn't have any medical issues.

In the past month, he turned out to be pretty expensive!!

A few weeks ago, he developed an abscess in his mouth which required an emergency dental visit (still waiting on the bill for that, but preliminary cost is $140).  Luckily, his antibiotics were part of the "free" program at the grocery store, so that didn't cost anything.  Then the dentist wanted to see him 2 weeks later, just to make sure things healed up (no idea what they are charging for that).

Our dental coverage stinks....so I am not hopeful that any of this will be covered.

At the 2-week check up, they told him they wanted him to go to a periodontist to check for bone loss from the abscess....*sigh*  We checked for an in-network doc...and none to be found (did I mention our dental coverage stinks??)

Then he started having vision problems (ahhhh, the joys of closing in on the big 4-0).  So he went to the eye doctor, and $65 later, he needs glasses.  We talked about ordering from an on-line place, but he really wasn't comfortable with it.  These are his first pair of glasses, and he wanted to make sure if he had any problems with them, he could easily get it corrected. 

So we bought him glasses.....$411.  They were having a sale.  Can't you tell?  We checked with our insurance, and the funny thing was that the cost with our insurance was exactly the same as their sale (within a dollar). 

These expenses would have been covered with our FSA, if we had any money left.  Other events of the year ate through that (how sad is it that we went through $4000 out of pocket in roughly 7 months?) When we did our FSA last fall, I accounted for a new pair of glasses for ME.  I haven't gotten new glasses in about 6 years.  Yeah....I think those will have to wait until January when our FSA resets.

The expenses are what they are.  Just another bill to add to the pile.

Oh, and when you add this to some other stuff that I haven't told you yet.......all I have to say is "stop the world, I want to get off!!!!"

13 comments:

  1. I think we may be on the same stinky dental plan. We had to get glasses last year for my husband. It cost about the same as what you guys paid. It stunk too. And now it seems he need to get new lenses.

    I wish you guys could get ahead.

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  2. That stinks, I'm sorry. My BF is very expensive also. Thankfully he has completely free insurance and no copay, deductibles or anything, so we would be in trouble. The BF goes to the emergency room and doctor for everything. I can thank his family for babying him when he was younger.

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  3. I feel compelled to warn you. I had an abscess last year. After my visit to the dentist I was sent to the periodontist and needed a root canal done. It was roughly $1200 without insurance - luckily I had insurance that covered some of it and then it happened at the beginning of the year so it wiped out my flexible spending account later. When he goes to the periodontist make sure to see if they have some sort of payment plan and check out your options now. You are not sent to see a periodontist for nothing.....however I HOPE G-MAN's is nothing. Also if he does need to get a root canal done - when he signs anything (they will make you do paperwork) make sure that it covers the work done to the tooth and ask a lot of questions. My root canal did not "take" so to speak (they will caution him about this when he is there) and I had to have dental surgery. The dental surgery cost me $0 out of pocket because it was part of the original root canal treatment. Otherwise it would have cost me $1400. Also there are lots of follow up xrays to make sure that everything is healing properly - also should be covered in the original root canal.

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  4. For glasses, we always, always go to Costco. I had cataract surgery and need progressive lens glasses. Total cost: $189. My husband is a G Man also and our plan doesn't have any vision coverage.

    Oh, and our dental coverage stinks too. So far this year, our family has had two crowns and 7 cavities filled. Did I mention teenage daughter is getting braces?

    Anne D

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  5. We are eating through our FSA too and like you, my glasses will have to wait until next year. Don't get me started on the dentist... That's also going to have to wait. Forever?

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  6. @Niki - I don't know anyone with good dental coverage. What is up with that???

    @Michelle - free insurance??? I wish! We pay over $500 a month just to HAVE insurance!

    @CJ - thanks for the heads up. Can I just cry now???

    @Anne - we don't have a Costco. Too bad. Do I want to know what braces cost? Bossy will probably need them at some point.

    @MSM - yeah...I need to cancel MY dentist appt...my teeth are fine....we just can't afford it.

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  7. Dental coverage is the biggest rip off there is. But they scare us into needing it. If I took the $59.00 a month that they have charged us and banked it I would have a large savings account. Maybe that is what we all need to do.

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  8. Yeah I'm always extremely jealous of his insurance. Everything is free, the emergency room, dental, doctor, dermatologist and so on. The only thing he has to pay a single cent for is urgent care, so whenever anything is wrong, he just goes straight to the emergency room because it saves us money.

    He works for UPS by the way, if anyone was wondering. Great benefits.

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  9. Also, I can't imagine paying $500 a month for insurance. Luckily my work offers free semi-decent health insurance also.

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  10. I needed glasses in my early thirties which means that everyone is different. The common thread is our "warranty" runs out. As we get ol(er) we seem to need more stuff. I am old(er) and very healthy, active and fit, yet I take about medicines everyday. I am lucky, my insurance is pretty good.

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  11. Well if it helps any in the future I ordered both T and my glasses from 39dollar glasses and they are pretty good. Neither one of us has had a problem with them and they got the rx correct.

    Our insurance sucks to...sigh

    Judy

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  12. Try America's Best Contacts and Eyeglasses - you can get the exam and two pairs of glasses for under $100.

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  13. stay strong Mysti - this too shall pass (I hope) I feel like we are with you treading water to just stay afloat... we are all in your corner & here for you for the emotional support side...

    try to stay positive

    xoxo

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