Synagis

Yesterday Will got his 1st of many Synagis injections to prevent RSV. The way it was explained to me is that this medication was designed to replicate what a baby gets from the placenta during the last trimester of pregnancy. Obviously with Will being born almost 9 weeks early, he is at risk for getting a severe case of RSV if he is exposed to it and the illness can be particularly harmful to preemies. We were excited to hear that these injections would be available to us since most insurance companies only approve them for premature babies........however we were not excited to hear the costs involved. Based on Will's current weight, the injections are over $1000 per month. As soon as he reaches 10 lbs, they go up to over $2000 per month. Our medical insurance, which is through Integra now (Eschelon was bought out by Integra in August of 2007) changed as of July 1st of this year and got significantly worse than it had been before. If any of our Integra friends are reading this post, my advice to you is to get on your spouse's insurance (if possible), or just be extremely careful and never get pregnant while you are still on Integra's plan! There is now a $4000 out of pocket max + a $400 deductible for EACH PERSON ON YOUR PLAN. With Lili's physical therapy and ear tubes...my bedrest stay in the hospital...and Will's time in the NICU/Special Care Nursery, we will be reaching the out of pocket max for ALL of us, plus paying the deductibles. At that point, Blue Cross will cover 100% of our medical costs. What stinks even more is that I was told they are set up on a calendar year even though our benefits changed in July. This means everything that we have paid and will pay only takes us through the end of the month. Starting January 1st, our deductibles and out of pocket maxes have to be met for the 2009 calendar year, so any medical costs accrued after December 31st won't be covered at 100%. We will be paying $400+ per month for each of the Synagis injections that Will needs through April. It is so frustrating to be dealing with the financial aspects of medical care when there are so many other things to be thinking about right now. Obviously if we didn't have any insurance at all we would be in a MUCH worse situation........and I do try to remind myself of that as each new bill comes in...........but it's still hard. When I was pregnant with Lili we were still under Eschelon's insurance. Lili was 5 weeks early and spent 1 week in the Special Care Nursery before going home. From the moment I found out I was pregnant, through labor and delivery and through her extended stay in the hospital, I think we only paid about $300 out of pocket. EVERYTHING else was covered. To go from that kind of coverage to what we have now is a bit of a shock! In the end though, the bills are nothing when I think about the care that I got and the care that Will got throughout our long stays at Abbott. The nurses and doctors there were awesome and we were lucky to be where we were. I'm healthy, Will is healthy and we're all home. I think I need to stay focused on those things...and continue hoping that we win the Powerball....!