Week 18: Endocrinologist, Round Two

My husband and I recently decided to switch to Christian Healthcare Ministries, rather than signing up for a new insurance plan. This affects the way I seek medical care, because all preventive and/or maintenance care for pre-existing conditions is not covered. (Medical emergencies related to the pre-existing conditions are). This means that trips to the endocrinologist, prescriptions, and routine bloodwork are not covered, and I have to be careful about the way I spend my dollars on these expenses.

Since my endocrinologist has asked me to come in to see him every month ($190), and also have blood drawn each time (not sure how much this total is, but at least $55 or more) for an A1C, this will be a significant burden. I've never thought it was necessary, though I played along as long as someone else was picking up the bill. But that is no longer true. 

Since my endocrinologist fired me at the end of last pregnancy when I wouldn't come in on his monthly schedule, I decided to be up-front this time, and explain my situation. I'm not sure how he'll feel about it, but the diabetes educator I met with at his office today said, "I don't think he'll budge." So here's the note I sent to her explaining our situation, which she said she would discuss with him:

"We signed up for a health insurance alternative called 'Christian Healthcare Ministries.' They don't cover maintenance or preventive care for chronic or pre-existing conditions. If I were only coming 4 times a year, like normal, we calculated the cost and figured this might actually save us money, but coming once a month will cost too much.

"As my doctor knows, I feel very comfortable managing my blood sugars, since I've learned a lot in my last three pregnancies. I would be happy to come every other month (or, perhaps I could come every month, we could do bloodwork every other month, and he could cut the charge of the office visit in half). My OB could also order whatever bloodwork is required, and I imagine Medicaid would likely cover the charges submitted from my OB's office.

"Alternatively, I could see him on an as-needed basis, with whatever waiver/disclaimer he needs me to sign for legal purposes so that he is not on the hook for a bad outcome with my health or the baby's. He knows me well, the office staff is friendly and competent, and kindly accommodates the strangely high number of toddlers who accompany me to my visits. It's always nice to have someone to call when you have strange symptoms or need some diabetes advice. 

"I understand that both of these situations might leave your staff inadequately compensated for the time spent reviewing my blood sugar readings every week, so I am content to forego that service.

"Hope to see you again soon! If neither of these situations works, I'll probably try to find another doctor just during the duration of the pregnancy. But if he'll have me as a client again in July, I'd happily come back."

I tried to understand where they were coming from, but also give a reasonable explanation for how I think things could go during this pregnancy. I really hope he doesn't drop me again, but I finally decided that it would be better for me to be dropped and have to find someone else than continue to pay for services where seem rather unnecessary to me.

UPDATE: They did not drop me, but they did make me sign a waiver releasing them from all liability regarding my outcome or the baby's.

Week 11: Thanksgiving

I am proud to report that my plan from last week, not to overeat and to only eat regular meals at meal times or when my blood sugar is low, went swimmingly well over the Thanksgiving weekend. As you all know, this is a tricky time of year.

I also went to visit my endocrinologist this week. He had to think long and hard, and look at me for a few moments, to figure out whether I was joking, when I told him that I was pregnant. After the usual heckling, he asked me seriously:

"Do you all have a number in mind?" (Read: are you ever going to just stop having babies?)

"No, there's no number. We'd like to have as many as we reasonably can. We also recognize that life is highly variable."

Right now, my husband and I are really learning to surrender our lives to our children (ages 4, 3, 18 months, and in utero). We are enjoying them more each day, when we used to spend more time being irritated and feeling inconvenienced by them before. But we are also feeling the pinch and the pain of so much responsibility. Our attentions only go around so far, the crying can really disturb everyone's peace, and we are exhausted and physically in pain and grossed out with great regularity. We are also continually uncertain about whether we are addressing the right need at the right time and in the right way.

So we don't make commitments about the number of children we'll have, because we love them so much but life is also more complicated because of them. The only commitment we make is to love each and every one, to the best of our ability, from the moment of conception onward!