My employer’s fiscal year starts in July, so every June we make our benefits elections. This past June we were starting to realize our looming financial trouble: The life we were living before the baby could no longer be sustained given that we now only had one income.
Insurance costs were becoming one of the largest hits to my paycheck, so we decided to take a slight gamble and go one grade lower on the health and dental insurance. In all, we were going to get back about $100 each month that we really needed at the time to cover our bills. We were betting that we were going to stay healthy over the course of a year and not use up the health savings account that came with the plan.
But that bet is never a smart one to make… Especially with a baby and one income.
In just 8 months, we made three trips to MediQuick (non-emergency medical service) when things needed to be treated faster than our family doctor could schedule us in, one trip to the emergency center for my wife’s strange allergic reaction, a couple of doctor’s visits, and a number of well and sick baby trips to the pediatrician. In short, we botched the bet and blew through the whole health savings account way before it would be refilled again. Now we have to cover the full expense that the insurance would have covered, up to $1,500 total.
When you think about it, we got off lucky. We made a bet that never should have been made and we weren’t completely burned. We’ll likely have to spend the full $1,500 before the end of June, but that is also why we have the emergency fund.
Actually, chances are that we’ll burn through the $1,500 before the end of April. Next Wednesday, I have an appointment for an MRI of my brain. While I was at the doctor, I mentioned that my migraines had increased in frequency and intensity, so he ordered the MRI for “just in case” there is a physical reason for the change. This drives the point home even further that you can never be sure what turns your short- or long-term health will take.
The point is, when times come that you need to cut back to save money, insurance – really any form of insurance – is the very last place you should look to scrimp. Your health is important and you never can know when an emergency will arise that can outpace your insurance limits.
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Did you ask your doctor how urgent he thinks this “just in case” MRI is? If it’s something where, say, he’s 98% certain your headaches are ordinary migraines and wants to rule out other causes primarily to reassure you it might be something you could put off until summer after you bump your coverage back up. Of course, if he thinks it’s important to get the test, you need to get the MRI now and not gamble with your health.
It is a case where he’s 98% certain that it’s just normal migraines, but there is also a history for cancer and other brain issues in my family. He thought it was important enough to hold off prescribing me anything until after the results come back. I thought about pushing it off until after the new insurance takes over, but I think I would like the immediate assurance that there’s nothing (physically) wrong in my head. It would also provide a good baseline for future MRIs to determine if any changes are happening.
I know, this is definitely one of those cases where I am not practicing what I preach. At least this will likely help me exceed my $1,500 responsibility and everything else until June will be cheap – including the prescription for the migraines… Consider it a “stupid tax” if you must. :)