Friday morning Update

Today is Friday the 22nd.  After several stressful weeks and the weekend coming up I am glad that Saturday afternoon and Sunday are clear for me to rest.

 Amongst all the turmoil, aggravation, sadness, and frustrations I turn to my wife and daughter. They both smile at me and it takes me away. They show me love in a home, and I do my best to give them all the love I can.


It's never in the heat of the moment that you can learn from something. It seems it is always a day, week, or even several months past the event that you begin realizing the profound effect it has had on you (or myself since that is ultimately where this is going.)

Having a full time job with insurance. That is the dream for most. And yet, even having the luxury of insurance does not save us from life's real prices. Prices we pay with things other than money or monetary things.

Several weeks ago, I came home from a day at work. The sun was out, traffic seemed to crawl as it always does. The garage door opened with the same mechanical clunking sounds just like it always has.

But, unlike every other day, something small had arrived in the mail. Something unexplainable, and still frustrating to this day.  You see, an interesting process occurs when you deal with hospital billing and insurance companies.

It turns out if an insurance company does not pay a bill within 30, 60, or sometimes 90 days depending on the conditions etc., the collecting party I.E. the hospital has legal ground to pursue the individual for payment.

This wouldn't be so frustrating if the bill this particular case happened to occur with was below say $250.  Heck, I may even pass off a $500 bill if I knew I could be reimbursed for it. But, this particular occurrence landed a bill in our lap that, since insurance had not paid in 60 days, was now my responsibility even though I pay my monthly amount out of my check, I payed full deductible for the year etc., a bill that is nearly $150,000.00.

That's more than my house cost!

Now, I am not scoffing at this bill saying I'm not paying this blah blah blah. Besides, the treatment this cost is tied to, DID save my LIFE no questions asked.  I would gladly pay every penny had I the means.

I sat on the couch and called every number I could find on that bill. I asked every possible way I could for help or assistance from the hospital. And, what I got was nothing. Ran around, questioned, have you asked your friends and family for help? Have you thought about selling your house? Do you have an extra vehicle you could sell to help pay for a portion of the bill?

I am floored at this point. I turn to my wife, who is now more red in the face than I am. It took several weeks before a smile returned to either of our faces. Only our daughter could produce laughter because she is still blissfully ignorant of this cruel world.

I don't know the purpose of this post. Venting, reflection, introspective evaluation on how I handled it. What I do know is that humble pie is a dish I grow tired of.  Working helps, but to what end?

No matter how much I put in, it seems someone is always on the other end taking out 10 times as much 20 times faster.

I hope we can look back on this in out future, my wife and I, and think that it was a bonding time. That was a time when we pulled together as a family, stuck it out, and made it.  All I know at this point is they can bill me all the money in the world, but they can't take my family's love, or my friends kindness.

Curveballs in life are funny sometimes. Especially when the sock you in the eye eh?