I had to leave early today to take Hope over to the clinic and re-register.
Yes, I am very happy there is such a place I can take my daughter. But–
<rant> I am not happy that I can’t just put her on my insurance. Why can’t I? Because I can’t pay a fifth of my income every month to insure her. Not “don’t want to,” can’t. Could you?
Yes, there are programs to help low-income people. Guess what? I’m not low-income. According to the clinic I’m under the poverty level, I take home less than $20,000 a year, but I don’t qualify for KidsCare, the program that was designed to cover those kids who are in the “notch group” as it’s called. Whose parents make too much money to qualify for the state-run family assistance. Why don’t I qualify? Because their forms are unable to take into account the fact I don’t get paid two months out of the year.
God, I could go on. Yes, I could get a job for those two months. If I started looking in April, by June I might have found someone who will let me start whenever my work is done at the school. And then I’ll need to pay a day-care. And since any temporary job I found would probably be minimum-wage, I would be paying at the very least half of my income to the day-care. Probably more.
Unless I got a job at a day-care. But they need people when school’s out, not a month later.
See the Catch-22? Back to health care.
So the clinic is all I can afford. I only pay 75% of the cost of care. But. I have to leave work early to register. THEN I have to make an appt, I can’t have Hope seen right after I register, because what if I don’t qualify? So then I have to leave work early to take her to the appt. I pay $50, give or take a bit (actually it’s always more). The doctor, because they have truly wonderful doctors there, adores Hope but fully agrees she needs to be medicated. He gives me a prescription (two, actually) I take it to WalMart and pay over $50 for a month.
Next month I call and tell them I’m running low. A day or two later they’ll call and tell me the Rx are ready. I leave work early to go and get them, because the clinic closes before I get off work now my hours are changed. And take it to WalMart, and pay another $50+.
It all seems needlessly difficult. And I don’t think it’s because the clinic is trying to make it that way. They are unfailingly polite, caring, courteous people, from the front desk all the way to the cave for registration at the back. So whose idea was it to make it such a hassle? Why can’t I get notification I need to re-register? Why can’t I fax the items in when I’m already registered? Why can’t I make an appt for when I’m going to be there anyway? Why can’t they give me refills on her prescription? Or allow it to be called in? It’s not because they need to know who is picking it up. I have never ONCE been IDed when they handed me the prescriptions at the clinic, and it’s not because I’m in there a lot. I’m not.
Okay, spleen vented. Though I will not be getting over the fact I have what most people would consider a pretty good job, and can’t afford insurance for the most precious thing in my life. </rant>
I feel better.Â