A Trip To The Hospital
Posted on: September 29, 2008 by Matt
For the past nine months or so my right ear has had some dry, flaky, itchy skin and has really been irritating. Now nine months (may have been longer even) is a pretty long amount of time to let a health problem continue on even if it is just a little annoying. The reason I let it all drag out so long is that my health insurance basically sucks. My yearly deductible is $2,000 that must be covered out of pocket before the insurance company steps in at all!
Considering the cost of health care today that may not seem like all that much but when you have to budget a few hundred dollars for every doctor’s visit (in an already tight budget) you may tend to just not go. I find that I will ignore a problem, try any and all homeopathic cures and / or just wait for it to get better before going to a doctor with my insurance as it is. I have had health insurance before where I paid a copay towards my deductible or a copay only and was much more willing to bite the bullet and see a professional.
While at the walk in clinic (due to not going to the doctor I do not have a normal doctor to visit) yesterday I was informed that the irritation is eczema and that it can easily be treated with a topical cream. I also had wax buildup flushed out of my ears (yuck!) and was told to not use q-tips ever again (ears are apparently self cleaning).
Of course I have not received my bill yet and I do not have any idea how much the hospital will be charging for my visit (scary). I will post an update once I receive the bill and let everyone know what is going on with it. The one upside was that when I stopped to get my prescription filled the insurance prescription coverage brought the cost of the cream down to $2.13. Not too bad and I managed to pick up a big can of Folgers coffee for $6 (compared to the $12 it normally costs).
