How much did your expenses increase after your immigrant arrived?

[rlogan 2,036]

For me it was an increase in medical costs.

Medical and dental. Through the roof.

[afoyoswa 178]

For me it was an increase in medical costs.

Medical and dental. Through the roof.

Because of insurance, because of treatment costs, or both? I already know that my insurance costs are going to almost triple when I add him, but the vast majority of the time the insurance premium is my only healthcare cost (except when I'm going to Uganda and need shots/malaria prevention). His healthcare has been much more patchy and crisis-based than mine has, though, so it's possible that he may have some medical or dental needs we don't yet know about once he arrives.

[Messybrownhair 251]

At first we were ok coz I brought all my savings over.. my parents paid for our wedding and we got aos money from the wedding presents. But now my hubby is paying for my tuition so money is tight.. a year from now though ill be done and will be making good money as a speech pathologist

[Sayha or bust. 71]

My household increased by 3. It felt like nothing really changed,being i lived a very frugal life after I met my fiancee banking most of my money to pay for trips and Visa expenses. She landed a good job after GC as will your husband so money will not be much of an issue later.

[rlogan 2,036]

Because of insurance, because of treatment costs, or both? I already know that my insurance costs are going to almost triple when I add him, but the vast majority of the time the insurance premium is my only healthcare cost (except when I'm going to Uganda and need shots/malaria prevention). His healthcare has been much more patchy and crisis-based than mine has, though, so it's possible that he may have some medical or dental needs we don't yet know about once he arrives.

Allegedly I have insurance that covers 80% of medical. But they have this "customary" charge maximum. So for example they cover 80% of HALF the anesthetist's fees up here, in other words 40%. The alleged out of s pocket maximum is irrelevant on such things because they just refuse to pay it. We just dropped over a thousand dollars that they wouldn't cover for a son that went to the hospital, six hundred in dental not covered for me, around $1500 for her -

The other thing that has been extremely frustrating is making sure the medical records/billing people put the right code down when we are in there. I get permission from insurance for something before we go, like checking a really big strawberry birthmark for our first son, and the receptionist calls it a "well check". Insurance doesn't pay for a well check, and I know that and I did not make an appointment for one, so I protest that I insisted on the phone already not to do that. The receptionist lies to my face and says she has changed it when she has not. Then I ask the nurse to make sure and the nurse says "oh I see you are here for a well-check", and THIRD time demand they change it. So then the administration says they will not see us unless we do a well check first, which is blackmail on top of lying to us all the way; we are already there and they say they are going to charge us even if we leave that instant! This kind of thing is endless frustration for us. Same with dental people - trying to force them to be clear about charges and what insurance covers before you go in there...Gah!

[Rebecca Jo 1,962]

Because of insurance, because of treatment costs, or both? I already know that my insurance costs are going to almost triple when I add him, but the vast majority of the time the insurance premium is my only healthcare cost (except when I'm going to Uganda and need shots/malaria prevention). His healthcare has been much more patchy and crisis-based than mine has, though, so it's possible that he may have some medical or dental needs we don't yet know about once he arrives.

Insurance costs and prescription costs.

He was recently hospitalized so we await the bills that the insurance won't cover.

[Hedi 24]

I (the USC) am the main breadwinner, as my husband currently has a part-time job, so I am paying more in terms of expenses at the moment than before we were married. We had to buy a second car, and I paid for that out of my savings. Groceries, travellign expenses (for a holiday) insurance (car & health) are higher and we have to be very frugal. I can do that, as I am good with savings; however, my hubby is not that great with savings. So, it has been a learning experience for us. Still, we both just finished our Masters degrees, and that has helped me go up on the salary scale, and my husband is hoping to eventually get a full-time job at his current work place. Fingers crossed... if and when that happens, it will help tremendously.

[rlogan 2,036]

Another example - the hospital required us to use both a delivery doctor and a second pediatrician. They put an ankle bracelet on our son and would not let us leave the hospital without that totally unnecessary pediatrician giving us permission. But you can't go call that pediatrician - you have to wait until the next morning and get charged for a longer stay in the hospital.

The hospital smugly told us we would sue them if they did not force this unnecessary pediatrician on us, which insurance would not pay for, because it was not necessary. The ankle bracelet locks the elevator doors and sounds an alarm if you try to leave without their permission. We like paying the extra money for that high-tech gear that was used to extort money from us too.

[Holly2234 66]

Another example - the hospital required us to use both a delivery doctor and a second pediatrician. They put an ankle bracelet on our son and would not let us leave the hospital without that totally unnecessary pediatrician giving us permission. But you can't go call that pediatrician - you have to wait until the next morning and get charged for a longer stay in the hospital.

The hospital smugly told us we would sue them if they did not force this unnecessary pediatrician on us, which insurance would not pay for, because it was not necessary. The ankle bracelet locks the elevator doors and sounds an alarm if you try to leave without their permission. We like paying the extra money for that high-tech gear that was used to extort money from us too.

Thats insane!!! Might consider a home birth next time if its going to be like that. I arrived at hospital 45 minutes before my daughter was born and left 3 hours after(in the UK). I want to get in and out in record time when im going to be paying for it. Im sorry they treated you like that!

[Iyawo Ijebu 157]

Another example - the hospital required us to use both a delivery doctor and a second pediatrician. They put an ankle bracelet on our son and would not let us leave the hospital without that totally unnecessary pediatrician giving us permission. But you can't go call that pediatrician - you have to wait until the next morning and get charged for a longer stay in the hospital.

The hospital smugly told us we would sue them if they did not force this unnecessary pediatrician on us, which insurance would not pay for, because it was not necessary. The ankle bracelet locks the elevator doors and sounds an alarm if you try to leave without their permission. We like paying the extra money for that high-tech gear that was used to extort money from us too.

Preface: not saying this did not happen to you.

I have worked in various hospitals for over 15 years in California and Texas but in IT side.

One thing a hospital cannot do is hold you against your will. Not sure if it's a law or just sound ethical business practice. At worst they will have you sign a waiver.

So the sensor they placed on the baby and the mother as well as occasionally on the father in long stay situation is to safeguard against abduction. It's not to hold the parents/baby hostage. On some systems if the sensors of both baby and any parent is within a set range the alarm won't even go off. In any case it's help on by a plastic ribbon that can easily be cut off by a scissors.

Sorry that you have a bad experience but I think you weren't celar or forceful enough in your request to be discharged.

My response is to balance out your post so as to not scare folks away from hospitals, one poster already hinted at trying an alternative.

Edited May 29, 2012 by Iyawo Ijebu

[Holly2234 66]

Preface: not saying this did not happen to you.

I have worked in various hospitals for over 15 years in California and Texas but in IT side.

One thing a hospital cannot do is hold you against your will. Not sure if it's a law or just sound ethical business practice. At worst they will have you sign a waiver.

So the sensor they placed on the baby and the mother as well as occasionally on the father in long stay situation is to safeguard against abduction. It's not to hold the parents/baby hostage. On some systems if the sensors of both baby and any parent is within a set range the alarm won't even go off. In any case it's help on by a plastic ribbon that can easily be cut off by a scissors.

Sorry that you have a bad experience but I think you weren't celar or forceful enough in your request to be discharged.

My response is to balance out your post so as to not scare folks away from hospitals, one poster already hinted at trying an alternative.

Thanks for giving a different side to things

I was already considering trying other alternatives because im not a very good patient! I want to get up and go once ive done what ive got to do and i dont believe in medicated births or having an IV or anything like that. I never wanted to be in a position where somebody tries to do those things to me. Its mostly a fear of the unknown because ive never been to an American hospital so i dont know what to expect! I only seem to hear horror stories

Edited May 29, 2012 by Holly2234

[Iyawo Ijebu 157]

Thanks for giving a different side to things

I was already considering trying other alternatives because im not a very good patient! I want to get up and go once ive done what ive got to do and i dont believe in medicated births or having an IV or anything like that. I never wanted to be in a position where somebody tries to do those things to me. Its mostly a fear of the unknown because ive never been to an American hospital so i dont know what to expect! I only seem to hear horror stories

You're welcome.

I hope you get over your fear of hospitals soon. One way that you can do that is perhaps during your period of waiting for working papers that you may volunteer (not sure if this counts as working so check first) in the hospital. One patient did this to overcome her fear. She volunteered in the nursery. So when the time came for her birth months later she was not a stranger to the hospital, the baby areas and the staff. In my hospitals, we have hotel suites, you check in to a very comfortable room compelte with all hotel amenities, room service where you can select your food (still yucky but healthy food), internet access, large flat screen tvs and even a couch that turns into a bed for your spouse. You will deliver in this room, do all your pre and post tests in the this room also. This eliminates transporation, etc, basically they bring the services to you ionstead of you being carted around, the hospital saves money and patients have responded favourably to this.

Two quick stories: two jobs before this, on the way to my interview while I was already in the hospital looking for the interview room, I ran accross a patient that was lost. Seeing how pertubed the persons was and knowing our hospitals are sometimes emotional, I didn't just point the patient to her way but I walked with her till we found where she needed to bne. Needless to say I was 10 minutes late for my interview. I got a call later from the HR department with an offer and they joked with me how it was the first time they have received an employee recongnition form from a patient for a non emplioyee.

We also had a patient whose Husband was serving in Iraq. I set up a webcam over the web with a link up to his base in Iraq. He was able to watch the birth of his Son.

Liek I said we are in the customer service business. Look at us as partners.

[Holly2234 66]

Thanks for all of the info

It seems to be vastly different to what im used to. Here in the UK its more like a production line. Get in, get out and please dont come back! I went for a shower down the corridor because the one in my room was broken and i come back to find all of my things and my baby moved into a staff coffee room because there was nowhere to put me. Whereas there it seems to be more of a service. I have visited somebody in two US hospitals (the ICU and a normal room) and it looked more like a hotel! Probably something i could get used to if the need arose. Not keen on the bills though!

[rlogan 2,036]

One thing a hospital cannot do is hold you against your will. Not sure if it's a law or just sound ethical business practice.

They did, and I think I have decided to sue if we can do it in small claims court. Some of the hospitals in the Philippines actually hold you at gunpoint until you prove that you have paid the bill. There is a guard with a shotgun posted at the exit. When my wife told me that I ridiculed her. But she was right.

So the sensor they placed on the baby and the mother as well as occasionally on the father in long stay situation is to safeguard against abduction. It's not to hold the parents/baby hostage.

Of course that is what they say. But that isn't what they did. We are not stupid. There has not been a baby abduction from a hospital in this state ever. There have been 128 of them since 1983 out of the 124,000,000 babies born since then nationwide - literally one in a million. None have been abducted with both parents and the baby in the room at the same time. The risk was zero for us. This is what they do: paternalistic fear-mongering. The risk of baby death from malpractice though is on the other hand a risk worth worrying about.

Sorry that you have a bad experience but I think you weren't celar or forceful enough in your request to be discharged.

Blame the victim: it's our fault. One of the things they did was trick us about how long it would be before the pediatrician came around. They had the same attitude towards us that you do right now: lesser than you. Paternalistic. It certainly can't be that they are doing something wrong. I have a wife there who does not like conflict. I would have been happy to throttle some people but she gets incredible migraines from stress.

My response is to balance out your post so as to not scare folks away from hospitals, one poster already hinted at trying an alternative.

Well we disagree. I told the truth. This wasn't even close to the nightmare we had when I shattered my leg in six places. Getting the nurses to show us the medication schedule was like world war three. Every single nurse fought us and we kept insisting it was our right to know. I got the floor supervisor who immediatly agreed we had the right to know, but then refused to write it up on the board where I could see it, using the same excuses as the nurses - it is already there on their computer where they could see it; just because it was the medication time did not mean that I would feel like taking it; I could buzz them if there was a problem, etc. I wanted to look stuff up on the internet, and boy they didn't like a patient with the power of getting his own information. When I FINALLY got one of them to write the name of the medication on the board, she spelled it wrong and left before she finished writing the schedule out.

One of them told me I needed to eat a lot of protein, and I immediately looked that up to find it is calcium you need and not protein - so she sent the word to other nurses about me being a "problem patient". That was the one who had erased the board and made fun of me as I was protesting. We know about her sending the word out because we have a friend that works as a nurse there and she told us after we left. This is the only hospital for 360 miles. They have a huge portion of medicaid/IHS patients who don't ask questions and don't have to pay for anything. Free airfare, food, taxi - so we were unusual for asking questions and looking up information ourselves.

This hospital not only inspects your baby seat before you leave - they follow you out to your car to make sure you install it in the car. We listened to them telling us that the seat we were required to use by law the year before (to save the baby's life) was now a threat to the baby's life: our baby could be killed if we used it. This is how stupid they think you are: we told you the same thing about this exact seat last year, how it was saving the life of our baby and now be a good little ####### and accept us telling you it will kill him now.

When we have a choice of leaving for better care we do. My local leg doctor knew nothing about ultrasound bone stimulators, and has no ability to look at CAT scan disks at his office. He is 30 years behind the field. This is the last frontier, and that's what you get. So I left for a surgeon in the lower '48 and because of that I did not need a third operation on my leg. When the accident happened I had no choice but to do it here because it was an emergency. But that required travel, and insurance doesn't pay for it.

[Iyawo Ijebu 157]

Thanks for all of the info

It seems to be vastly different to what im used to. Here in the UK its more like a production line. Get in, get out and please dont come back! I went for a shower down the corridor because the one in my room was broken and i come back to find all of my things and my baby moved into a staff coffee room because there was nowhere to put me. Whereas there it seems to be more of a service. I have visited somebody in two US hospitals (the ICU and a normal room) and it looked more like a hotel! Probably something i could get used to if the need arose. Not keen on the bills though!

For sure, this is a huge social issue here in the states.