We've got about $8000 worth of medical bills staring at us right now (and we met our 5K in-network deductible early in the year).

$2500 is for a BLOOD TEST to see the level of Christopher's medication in his body. Only one lab does this test. We were told that we'd eventually only owe about $75.00. So far, the insurance has written off $250.

We then have an explanation of benefits related to anesthesia for my son's surgery. They're rejecting because it was out-of-network. I don't know if the in-network hospital used an out-of-network anesthesiologist or what.

We used an in-network surgeon at an in-network hospital.

We're waiting 'til the bill comes in to see what's what. I keep trying to put it in the backroom of my mind, but it sneaks out every couple of days.

We will not be paying that bill, even if it comes down to: "Remember how y'all almost killed my kid by giving him way too much blood thinner for two days straight? Yeah. You should probably find a way to make this bill disappear."

The health care situation in this country is so enraging. Complete insanity.

It really, really is.

My last day at my company is tomorrow! Seven years, five of which were great, two of which sucked beyond all telling. I will miss my team so much, but I am ready for the change.

I want a few months sabbatical but also want to strike while the iron is hot, so am flying to NY next week for a job interview...

Interview~ma, javachik. May you get a great offer with a start date far enough off to enjoy some time to relax before jumping into the fray again.

Oh wow, java! That's big! Would the job be in NY, or remote? I hope you get to enjoy a few months of sabbatical. I'm back at work, but still getting my accesses and stuff fixed, I expect to find a lot of issues in the next few weeks. Am back on an old project, but hopefully not a bad one (I mean, it wasn't, at the time, but it's been through a few different hands now, so who knows....)

Cindy, that's horrible. Such BS, especially the out of network anesthesiologist (I was worried, when I had my surgery, that something like that would happen, but I had no ability at the time to figure that shit out or ask questions or god forbid change hospitals to try to avoid it or something--and my impression is that usually they can't/won't tell you ahead of time, anyway! Insurance in this country is so incredibly fucked up)

Ugh. I'm sorry, Cindy. And chances are quite good, based on experience here, that the anesthesiologist is in-network (because hospitals are pretty obsessive about enrolling EVERYONE whose very shadow might so much as fall across a patient with a particular plan in that exact plan), but someone spelled the name wrong or changed a Mc to a Mac or garbled a non-WASP naming convention. And now it'll be on you to advocate for yourself and your son and straighten out their fuck-up, because surely you have unlimited time and energy and absolutely nothing else on your plate.

Grrrrr.

We had a recent bureaucratic nightmare because a new fellow whose legal name in his home country is First Last V (because he's the youngest of five living family members with that name) and so all his US licensing and certification listed his last name as V, and then because all these systems are totally unforgiving nobody could find him under his actual name. Luckily, he hadn't even started working on patients yet, but if he had a whole extra layer of insurance and benefits denial nightmares would have ensued.

java, happy last day eve! I know you'll land somewhere that knows your value and is worthy of you.

Y'all there are a lot of big things going on here!

Furious on your behalf, Cindy, and boggled about why anyone thinks our system is worth preserving.

Excited on your behalf, javachik! And hoping you get offered a dream job that doesn't want you to start until January.

Maybe my new favorite academic acronym will amuse: the "non-WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic) population"....

Argh, Cindy. I'm sorry you have to deal with such a mess.

Go javachik! I am excited for you!

Insurance stuff is a fucking nightmare. I should go check on my various bills and see what's new.

I may have been a bit pissy in Slack talking about our open enrollment (we're switching insurance providers again). Maybe.

Oh and they never would've found this at all if it weren't for the kidney stones, and the enlarged lymph nodes in my abdomen that they found when they did the CT scan in the ER. Which is frightening/amazing to think about, because I feel totally normal.

I wouldn't wish kidney stones on anyone, as you know, but damn, I am glad you had them.