“And that’s with my insurance?!”
“Yes, that’s after your insurance. Now once you meet your annual deductible, the price will go down considerably—to about $124 every 90 days.”
“Do you know how close I am to meeting my deductible?”
“No, we’re unable to see those details, but you can call your insurance company and they should be able to tell you.”
“I’ll do that, and can you let me know when you’ll fill this medication?”
“We’ll get this filled as soon as possible. You should receive it within the next 14 days.”
“Fourteen days?” I asked in disbelief. “But she needs this medicine. Can I pay extra for expedited shipping?”
“We can expedite it, but it will only arrive about 5-7 days sooner. Would you like me to do that for you?”
“Yes, please do. Thank you.” I said as I hung up the phone.
Oh, these phone calls will never stop. I flipped over my insurance card to call the toll-free number on the back to learn more about my deductible. Since we were generally healthy, I hardly used my insurance before. This was unchartered territory for me. As the prompts continued to ask what seemed like a million questions, my frustration began to grow. After several minutes of prompts, I was finally listening to the tacky elevator music that intermittently cut out while holding for the next available operator to answer my call.
After the long hold time, I found myself scribbling a ton of notes about my insurance onto a sheet of paper as I fervently questioned the man on the other line. He patiently explained my deductible, including the current and pending charges from the labs and doctor’s appointments. He then estimated how much of my deductible I still had to meet prior to when the insurance would begin more coverage. When signing up for health insurance, I opted for the lowest priced monthly plan since Nevaeh and I lived on a tight budget. I would soon regret making that choice; my deductible was $6,500. To date, I’d met about $450; leaving us to still meet over $6,000 of the deductible until they began to increase their portion of coverage. I also learned it meant I had approximately $450 worth of pending medical bills on their way—and we hadn’t even seen the specialist or began any real testing yet.
Exhausted from the day’s events, I curled up into bed with Nevaeh and fell fast asleep. I would let myself worry about how I was going to pay for everything later. Right now I had to get some rest. I’d been running myself ragged taking care of Nevaeh, going to doctor’s appointments and calling everyone all over God’s green Earth trying to figure things out. I had to get back to work. Kevin had given me a total of eight points for taking off while my daughter was sick; it only left two points until I’d lose my job. With bills to pay and food to buy, I desperately needed my job more than ever. My hopes were that Nevaeh’s symptoms would lessen with her new medications and allow me to work. If I were lucky, maybe I could pick up a few extra shifts to pay down some of the medical bills that would soon come in the mail. Once I had those taken care of, I’d have to start saving money for her upcoming appointment with the specialist.
Although the sun was shining, and the birds were chirping, I had a bad feeling about my day. I dressed for work and helped Nevaeh get her clothes on before we drove to Lorraine’s house. During my commute, I could already hear Kevin’s voice in my head, berating me for missing so much work and scoffing at me for fussing over my daughter. I tried to prepare myself, but I couldn’t. My thoughts were scattered between Nevaeh, the piling bills I was faced with at home and my relationship with Dale and my family. I felt badly for putting my relationship with him on the back burner and upsetting my family, but it was necessary so I could focus on Nevaeh. The truth is, I would love to spend more time with him and go on more romantic dates, I didn’t have the ability to do that while taking care of my baby; and the fact that my family was mad as hell.
When I arrived at work, the air was charged; I could feel the hostility emitting from my boss as we crossed paths.
“Kimberly, I need to see you in my office, please.” He commanded.
As I followed closely behind him, he instructed me to close the door. Oh God, this is only the beginning.
“We need to talk. As of today, you have eight points against your attendance. The company policy states I’m required to give you a verbal warning, which I did over the phone, after the first three. When you hit the seventh point, I’m supposed to give you a written notice. I couldn’t do that since you weren’t here, and now you’re up to eight.” He removed a yellow carbon-copy paper from a clipboard inside his desk drawer.