[Sierra]

We got a tax refund this year. There are a number of things that need to happen in our lives for which we need money (from a car repair that will eventually snow ball into something quite large to the need to have some savings again to keep us from going homeless in the event of an emergency, as we're living uncomfortably close to the edge). However, trying to prioritize, we figured we'd pay off our outstanding bills before doing anything else with our refund.

So, we got out our stack of bills, many of which we have been paying very slowly on $10 or $20 monthly payment plans, and crunched the numbers. The vast majority of the bills were medical bills. We have insurance, but I have two serious chronic medical conditions and our medical bills are still very, very high.

None of the bills were consumer debts of any kind. There were some utility bills with which we've wrestled, paying what we could each month but still owing some amount for "past due." I also had a recent parking ticket (one I probably could have appealed, as the sign was not at all clear and appeared to be marked for another space...but the appeal process would involve driving at least once to the city where I received the parking ticket, which was two hours away given traffic...making it not worth it between gas and time out of work). The ticket was quite costly, I thought...at first it was $50 but then the fees for late payment, which we had to take because we just didn't have the $50 almost doubled it to close to $100!

I expected when we added it all up, we'd owe about $2000 in outstanding bills. Instead, it came out to $4000!

I can't believe we've been living with that amount in outstanding bills. Some of these bills we've had for far too long.

All these bills, just so I can stay alive and healthy. It really makes me sad about the state of health care. This is me on health insurance, afterall!

 

[goldfinch]

The health care system is totally broken.

My DH is self-employed, we have three kids (b/g twins, too, Sierra!) and pay close to $1000 a month for a health plan with a $5,000 deductible. Nobody has had any chronic conditions or life-threatening acute illnesses, and we've almost met our deductible already this year. The dining room table is awash in medical bills, including bills from last year's $5,000 deductible. I have a whole binder devoted to the various outstanding bills and the associated payment plans we've set up. We are paying over $400 a month toward medical debt right now.

I have further rants but the children are calling.

 

[KatWrangler]

Oh I hear ya. Our medical debt is over $6k right now.

 

[lolar2]

I would keep doing the monthly thing on the health care bills if possible, so that you don't get too close to the edge.

 

[Sierra]

Thanks for sharing your own stories and thoughts! I was in some serious "sticker shock" when I posted. I'm feeling a little better today. goldfinch, my kidos are adopted, so they're actually not biological twins, but "virtual twins" very close in age (that wasn't intentional...we did not seek to do "artifical twinning"). They're best of friends and also worst of enemies for one another. Overall, it's a lot of fun (albeit a LOT of work), isn't it?

Oh, by the way, I do admit the parking ticket being so expensive was partly because we couldn't pay it on time. But still, like I said, the vast majority of the $4000 is medical. I just can't believe an insured person has to spend that much just to stay alive. It just seems wrong. Yikes!

My sister posted a while back on her blog about how her son realized that when she got married, they would finally have health insurance (apparently she isn't getting insurance through the schools where she teaches?? or something??). http://awfulbrothers.blogspot.com/20...-this-kid.html. My mom said my sister should forward the post to the whitehouse.