They've Got Me Covered

My health insurance changed this month. I’m insured through my wife’s work and the policies provide both primary and supplemental coverage. The previous company through which we were insured offered a good primary policy, but this new insurance company is even better. They offer more coverage for less money, so yay.

In the years before my motorcycle accident my wife and I only had health insurance for a couple of years, back in the 1990’s. We didn’t even have insurance when my daughter was born and we ended up paying the hospital debt for years. We went to doctors during the time that we did have insurance and I even had surgery performed on one of my fingers, but the insurance coverage back then became too expensive and we dropped it. Our age always kept us fairly confident against any major issues with our health, and most of our medical problems over the years were handled by going to walk-in clinics.

We hadn’t signed up for the available health insurance at my wife’s current place of work before the motorcycle accident. We just felt that it wasn’t worth the expense and we were both fairly healthy, but things are different now. Although we both go to doctors for whatever reasons and we both try to stay on top of everything that arises with our health, the main reason that we have health insurance now is me. We don’t dare go without health insurance due to the likelihood of me needing further surgery in the future because of my accident injuries. We don’t know when this will happen, and the insurance costs us a bundle, but we can’t take the chance of hospitalization and surgery without insurance coverage. As of now, we spend more on the monthly premium payments than we receive in benefit payments. Is this a harsh financial deal for the time being? You betcha.

It’s all just a part of the continuing saga that is my motorcycle accident and the consequences surrounding the many injuries that came with it. I’m very much thankful to have health insurance available, but it does rob us of a great deal of discretionary spending cash each month for things such as, I don’t know, Red Sox games and such. The thing is this; you either accept life’s demanding changes, or you become embittered and petty. As for me, a trip to Fenway Park can wait.