Dan725

Wow Bob, I'd completely missed that as well - congrats!!!

Dan725

I agree completely....medical insurance has to be responsible for lots of high blood pressure issues! Although I do it a lot less after 8 years or so of being here, some of the random hidden uncovered expenses on those "Great Insurance Plans" still puts me in a rage.

Bob

The weird one was talking to MIL, when she had her son, my wife's brother. At the time she didn't have insurance because she hadn't been a teacher long enough at the time to qualify.

Had the baby, had complications, but after being stabilised, she was discharged the next day because they didn't have insurance and told to call an ambulance if anything were to happen. That was a little mercenary. This was about 25 years ago though and that hospital where they live is still called the butchers shop for a reason

Bob

Oh, some other completely random bits and pieces.

With our first baby, the hospital gave us a care package that consisted of a wash bowl thingy, snot sucker, a few digital thermometers, a packet of nappies, pack of wipes, massive number of various samples of creams for nappy rashes etc and a couple of dummies.

This time around, we've been given a couple packets of nappies because they were already in the cribs and they were size ones and we needed premies and then new borns now, and we'll be given a weeks supply of pre-made baby formula, a tube of nappy rash cream and we don't know what else.

Some other friends we know were given nothing but the baby outfit and hat that they clothed their baby in. I think a lot of this does depend on the hospital you use and possibly to some extent to the insurance.

Edit: To add, with our first child, the insurance at the time sent us a bunch of books, a What to Expect pregnancy book, a book on breast feeding and general baby nutrition and we got a third baby book I can't remember. This time around we got nothing.

Both occasions the hospital had a lactation consultant to chat with the new mums and go over everything from feeding, pain relief, using a breast pump and all that stuff. This time around, because we were in the ICU, they also had a social worker come chat with mum and myself separately to see how we were doing.

MarylandNed

It also depends on who you encounter even within the same hospital. My wife is a nurse - and I'm not biased when I say she's a fantastic nurse and a fantastic person. She arrives early so she's up to speed on everything when the shifts change and to ensure that no-one has to stay late because of her. She treats patients like she'd want to be treated herself - better than family! And she stays late to make sure her work is done and all her patients are in good shape. Unfortunately not everyone at her hospital has the same outlook.

ian-mstm

In surveys year after year... nursing is consistently ranked #1 as the most trusted profession. My wife is also a nurse... and, by staggering coincidence, also a fantastic nurse and a fantastic person! I think we're both quite lucky!

Ian

Bob

The nurses, pretty much all of them have been superb. Doctors, have been mixed, they're all been really knowledgeable and good doctors, but some were definitely much better people persons and able to explain things well, considering the stress of it all, having one been a bit stiff about it all is a bit annoying, the only one we encountered like that unfortunately happened to be the head honcho

Bob

So we might be able to take our little one home sooner than expected, and get a prescription of caffeine and a breathing/heart monitor.

The doctor said she would call the insurance to see what they would cover, because apart from sleep apnoea episodes, she is good to go and it's only a precaution. Without treatment, she needs to be clear for 5 days, but so far has had a couple of stutters. With treatment, she can be released. Insurance don't seem to have a problem with keeping her in NICU though, so it's personal/financial choice at this point.

We will really see what the deal is on Monday.

The nurse did also tell us to empty basically anything that wasn't bolted down when we left because everything would have to be chucked out, even unopened wipes in the crib draws etc would all have to be chucked.

One nice thing too, we're allowed to grab as many of the Medela Milk Storage tubes as we need/want, which is great as they're something like $30 for 20 tubes in Babies R US, or there abouts.

Sally Redux

Excellent news Bob

Bob

Aye!

Oh, weird one though, will also have to give vitamin D, apparently all new babies, even none premies are being given it because Rickets is making a come back. I thought they were joking

Sally Redux

This is the message my husband is trying to get out. He's very involved in research on vitamin D and premature birth.

Bob

So had a word with our insurance because apparently no one was told about the "small" print.

The policies signed up were contingent on the company getting x number of people signing for each plan type, other wise there would be changes to level of cover.

Apparently, because the company has changed the benefits so that part timers can't get health, that's anyone working 35 hours or less, which is quite a large number. And because of the costs of cover, a lot of people have cancelled the cover and gone with their spouses presumably. The company didn't meet their numbers.

The "cheaper" plan went down to having a $500 per incident deductible and a 70/30 cover.

Our "good" plan has a $1000 a year family deductible and then a max 90/10 cover.

Admission to the hospital ER was $500 so we're half way to our deductible already. This is suddenly looking like it is going to be much, much more expensive than we had anticipated.

The caffeine at least is looking like we can get generic prescription if we need it and that'll only be $10 a fill.

joto

Congratulations on the new arrival. For the caffeine, you could set up a drip feed from your local DD's or Starbucks.

steve100100

Congratulations bob, hope all goes well,

On a side note, my son was born with pneumonia. This was four years ago. I had a just started a new job. It had very basic health insurance that first year.

Anyway, he spent twelve days in NICU. The cost to me? $42,000

Paying $100 a month forever. But it's not necessary to hit the panic button just yet.

tonrob

We just got the insurance statements for the Sproutette - normal delivery and no drama and still looking like $15,000+ (mostly covered thankfully).