Wednesday, July 13, 2005

Insurance and Thailand

One thing I didn't tell last week was how much my hospital stay cost me. I thought that I wouldn't be much since the day that I had 3 blood tests, a CT Scan, X-ray and Ultrasound cost only $20, but it ended up costing me about $900. It turns out that the insurance wouldn't cover any of the hospital stay since I was in a two person room. If I was in a dormitory style cheapo bed, then they would have covered it. But when I was asked what kind of room I wanted, I said that I didn't have much money, so I wanted the cheapest they had, so I don't know what else I could have done. In addition, the handbook that they gave me when I signed up for insurance said nothing about not paying for hospitalization in the section called "Treatment not covered by insurance" It's kind of ridiculous that they will cover the cheapest room, but not any part of a more expensive room at all. I spent some time today pestering the health insurance guy at the city hall about it, but he didn't budge, so Ai's mom said she'd call for me. Apparently, she's good at stuff like that.

This huge expense is really bad because I'm going to Thailand in just over a week. I really can't afford it until after I get my paycheck for this month, but the problems is that I don't get this months pay until the day after I leave. Anyway, we've planned out our trip, and made hotel reservations for the nights that weren't covered by the travel agency, and Ai's very excited. I'm still working and stuff, so I haven't really had any time to think about it. My last day of work for summer is July 22nd.