Insurance Woes...

I'm so frustrated right now. We didn't add Ethan to my work insurance because it would have cost $375 a month to do so. But when we started the private insurance through Anthem Blue Cross at $75/month, we didn't realize we'd be paying $100 per doctor visit. Did I mention we've had three doctor visits so far this past month, because Ethan had his 2-month visit and then two more because he was sick? That would be $300, just in co-pays. Then, this same week I also found out that my insurance won't cover Ethan's circumcision (which runs approximately $420 or so, by itself) and first well-baby visit (not sure how much that costs).

Why, you ask? Oh, because I didn't read the fine print on the insurance documents and choose a pediatrician from within the Sutter Gould building on Coffee. I thought, quite mistakenly, that I could just go with any doctor who is listed on PacifiCare's website as a valid participant in the network. And I wanted to choose a doctor who was *also* listed on the Anthem Blue Cross network, so that he would have the same doctor from the beginning. WRONG!! Now, they say they won't cover it, which means I'm in the whole approximately $720 so far-- and that's not including the co-pay for the emergency room visit that we had a week ago. I really can't believe that things are going so sideways financially right now... am I going to have to start selling off furniture to pay the doctor bills? What kind of world are we living in?!?

Once I lose my job, we can apply for Kaiser's "money-saver" child-only plan, which would run us only $14/month. How awesome is that? Until then, I can either not take Ethan to the doctor ever again, or switch his insurance to Kaiser's regular plan... which runs about $200/month. Still, $200 a month and a $25 co-pay is better than what we've got going on right now! Oy...