Since marrying Nate in March of 2010 I have switched insurances four times. The first time was when we got married and I switched over to Nate's insurance as it was cheaper and we were contemplating me staying at home with the kids even back then. The second time was when Nate switched from working at Areva to NuScale. The third time was after the NuScale fiasco and Nate began working for NAI. This final insurance switch happened just a bit ago as NAI was bought out by a company called Zachry. If you've noticed three of these insurance changes have happened due to job changes as the US currently ties insurance to your employment.
The most frustrating part about all of this is that each time our insurance changes I've had to go about finding out whether our current doctors/dentists/allergists/etc take our new insurance or not. If they don't (which has happened two out of the four insurance changes) I have to then go about finding new. I'm finding that I don't really care too much about which doctor or dentist I have as I've had many over the course of my life, but this latest change means I have to get a new pediatrician for Abby. It's this that I'm upset about. I really like our current pediatrician (Dr. Frances Dernbach) and am really not looking forward to finding a new one. I know that there are many fabulous doctors out there that will take exceptionally good care of Abby, but it's the fact that I have to that bothers me. I wasn't a fan of the way President Obama reformed our health insurance as it seemed to be only a band-aid to our problems (which will just break years down the road) instead of an overall redoing of the whole system which I was/am in favor of. I believe that a great deal of our economic woes comes from the fact that our employment and health insurance are intertwined. Sever that connection by making insurance part of the free-market and, in situations like when Nate was let go from NuScale due to the business closing, we wouldn't have been in a panic over our loss of health insurance. People who are currently unemployed and paying thousands of dollars to COBRA wouldn't as they would be on their normal health insurance even in times of unemployment.
In the end my frustration truly stems from the inconvenience of it all. Finding out who our new insurance will allow us to see. Determining where I want this pediatrician to be (Pasco vs. Richland) and of what type (family vs. pediatrics). Hopefully this quest will be an easy one and whomever I find will be caring for us for years to come.
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I don't blame your frustration at all. It is one thing for us adults to change doctor's...we are used to a lot of change but to have a pediatrician that not only you love but also your child is comfortable with is a big deal and it sucks to have to change. It was so important to us that even when we lived in Houston we would travel over an hour for Rogue to see her pediatrician...she was that good and we didn't want to change to a closer one even if it was more convient to us.
ReplyDeleteGood luck on the search! I would be upset if my coverage changed, too - we go to a family practice and my doctor is the one who delivered both Jace and Bria. She knows our family well! HOpefully you find some good people to take care of your family.
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