Another Bonehead Move

Well if HeeHaw was writing the story, the title of the post would be "Where I put my financial needs before my children's health"......... Ugh.

I know you are ready for the latest installment of "What bonehead move can we make today". Fasten your seat belt and away we go!

Last weekend, Doodle was experiencing some intense dental pain. She told me a certain tooth was bothering here. Not sure if a molar was growing in or not, I gave her some Children's Motrin and decided to wait another day or so to see what happened.

Turns out, the pain intensified, so I made an emergency appointment with her dentist. When he came out to talk to me after examining Doodle, the news was not good. She either needed a root canal, or the tooth could be pulled. Man. The dentist gave us a referral for the Endodontist. After giving us a prescription for Penicillin to reduce the swelling the infection is causing.

I put in a call to schedule the procedure. HeeHaw has health/dental insurance, so I gave the endodontist this info so they could research the out of pocket cost. They tell me it will $357 after all is said and done. That figure is after insurance......... if you didn't have insurance that would go up to $1220. Wowzers.

So what am I supposed to do next. Call or "email" HeeHaw and LL. An email is drafted, including the cost with and without insurance, when the appointment is for, and all about the meds she is now on. I fill Doodle in on when her appointment will be, and what the procedure means. I let both HeeHaw and LL know that I can go ahead and pay the full cost and they can pay me back their portion in 30 days.

Wouldn't you know, I get a call from HeeHaw later that day. He is starting a new job ina few days, and after talking to his friend who works for the new company, HeeHaw has decided to put off Doodle's procedure because he is CERTAIN it will cost less.

He goes on to explain that he has talked to Doodle, and she isn't in THAT MUCH pain, so she is willing to wait another week to 10 days to have her root canal done. What? OMG. I do a little freak out. Not going to lie. I explain to HeeHaw that there is NO WAY he can be certain of what his new dental plan will cover....... oh wait. Yes I can. Thanks to a little detective work from CHB, we found the employee info on health and dental plans from the place where HeeHaw will start his job.

Guess what? The plan is the VERY SAME as the one we have right now. I even called the endodontist to ask if they had experience with this insurance plan, and wouldn't you know? They had a copy of the coverage plan right there......... again. SAME PLAN. SAME COVERAGE. SAME DEDUCTIBLE.

So I call HeeHaw back to let him know. HeeHaw and LL are content with waiting until they are for sure what the coverage will be.

Meantime, Doodle will run out of meds in the next 72 hours. I think the pain has gone away because the infection is receeding and the swelling has gone down. Well, as soon as she comes off those meds, there is a chance that the infection and swelling will come back, causing even MORE pain than she has now, or had within the last week. 

Several issues present themselves with this:

1. In order to save a buck back in October, HeeHaw asked me to wait to get Doodle's filling taken care of because he was going to be starting a new job. This would be in the SAME tooth than now requires a root canal. At age 12.

2. Why do I continue to let HeeHaw push me around when it comes to monetary issues? Everyone knows I do it, I know I do it........ but why? It's not like I EVER expect to be paid back.

3. How is it that HeeHaw and LL are so comfortable risking the safety and health of MY children? Doesn't that seem a bit off to you? LL wants so desperately to be "mom"....... isn't this something a "mom" would take care of? Beating HeeHaw over the head with his own stupidity?

Now we have to wait. HeeHaw asked me to wait until Monday to see what the coverage was. I can't wait to say "I told you so" when I find out I'm right....... Jackass.