Doctor appointment crunch time

Scott and I feel fortunate and blessed to have raised all of our children with great medical and dental care coverage since the day they were born.  Our children were able to have braces, cavities filled wisdom teeth pulled, tonsillectomies, and more.  We did not fear emergency room visits when Whitney feel down the outdoor steps and cut her lip open at 18 months or cut her knee crawling on her bed as a metal spring popped through.  The time Chelsea was crawling on the floor with pain and I laughed at her thinking she was a drama queen only to find out she had kidney stones.  Sean's visits as he was hit over the head with a block in preschool requiring stitches, more stitches after trying to juice his finger in Scott's Jack LaLanne Juicer, then again after dropping a weight on his other finger slicing it open, and many visits for heart alerts.  We were able to take Sean specialists for his hearing loss, heart defects and migraines.  Sean and Chelsea were both able to have an endoscopy after suffering with acid reflux for so long.  We never had to worry too much about mounting medical bills as our company offered insurance plans were very reasonable. 

 Chelsea's smile before and after braces

Whitney still has the scar today between her nose and lip on her right side from the fall. Not so easy to see in pictures.

  Sean with braces

Sean after slicing open his finger by dropping a weight on it.

Things are changing rapidly in regards to great company provided medical and dental benefits and now we are faced for the first time ever with concern over getting the necessary medical care.  Our current insurance requires ridiculous deductibles that are not manageable, and tries to deny any claim for any reason (requiring hours of phone calls and faxes). I recently discovered we have paid the maximum out of pocket for the year! How crazy!! I always see that number and think I hope we never have to pay that much in medical bills.  We did!  Now we have less than eight weeks of the year left for free medical care and I want to make sure I take care of everything I always put off because of concern for cost or other reasons.  Today I have made appointments for allergy testing, full physicals, orthodics, hearing and eye exams all before the end of the year.  I am so worried about where medical coverage and cost is going for next year and the years to follow and hope my children can raise their children without the worry of cost.