You can't shake hands with a clenched fist.
-- Indira Gandhi --
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Yesterday, Daughter and I took the Nugget for a walk. Nugget likes to walk until she gets tired. She walked to the end of our street and down a steep maintenance road toward the bay. She saw a rough trail into the woods, so she and Daughter took off down that while I trundled the umbrella stroller on down the maintenance road. After they came back out onto the road, we cut down a steep rock and sand bank to the seawall, where there's a new smooth cement sidewalk above the edge of the water.
After all that rough walking with no difficulty Nugget took about three steps on the smooth walkway and suddenly pitched forward, landing on her palms and chin. LOTS of blood, all down the front of her shirt. Only a little crying, though. Daughter scooped her up and ran for home. Washing, ice packs.
The damage, as of today:
You can see the two teeth up top that did the damage to her swollen lower lip. Her chin looks terrible. Daughter was worried that bone might have been chipped, but there's no bruising, so I think we escaped with just abrasion. It doesn't seem to bother Nugget, though. She still eats crackers happily.
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We also heard yesterday that a neighbor's cat had brought home a dead bat. The neighbor's first impulse was to toss it down into the ravine, but then she called animal control just in case, and it was tested, and yeah, it had rabies.
The animal control people didn't say anything else.
Her cat had been vaccinated, but her children had touched the bat and played with the cat. Anybody know what the danger might be, if any?
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These two issues - the rabid bat and the sudden oops on the walk - helped Daughter to make a decision. Hercules is changing jobs, and the three of them will be without health insurance for somewhere between one and two months. Because he's leaving voluntarily, they aren't eligible for COBRA.
Daughter checked into short-term insurance, and the same plan that's $700/month in Pennsylvania is $2000/month in New Jersey. Ouch. She can get into a group plan through her professional association for a lot less, but it's still expensive for one or two lousy months.
Hercules hates insurance companies, and wants to do without until his employer's plan kicks in.
Daughter has asked her friends through Facebook what kind of medical expenses they could expect at Nugget's age, and everyone's all "Ho Hum","occasional colds", advice like "don't go to a doctor, go to the urgent care center, it's cheaper", and so on.
They've been going 'round and 'round about it. Me? I'm freaking out. I told Daughter that you don't get insurance for expected things. You get it for the unexpected. Insurance is a bet you make with the insurance company, a bet you hope to lose and they hope to win. I advised her to get a catastrophic policy, something with a high out-of-pocket, like $10,000, and then full coverage after that. "You realize that if something unexpected happens, you could lose your house." (I didn't tell her, but I was remembering Jay. Until his first seizure, he was very healthy. In fact, he had just got off the treadmill when it hit. After the seizure, it was $400,000 or more a year. We were very lucky to have an excellent policy. You never know what could happen.)
Well, until yesterday, Daughter couldn't imagine a catastrophe. She couldn't even imagine "unexpected".
Now she can.
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3 comments:
1. Aw! Poor baby Nugget! I have observed that the calmer the mother / caretaker in these situations, the calmer the kid will be. I have no doubt Daughter kept her head.
2. I am very sorry Hercules is changing jobs but understand completely why he would.
3. When I was a contractor, I had a policy with Horizon BCBS of NJ that ran me about $400 / mo. I understand the pain of this. Then I went without any insurance for a long time, trying to forget the risk I was taking.
Does Hercules have something lined up? Oh - Nugget may be eligible for a state-sponsored health insurance for children.
If he's going into contracting, most contracting companies have some kind of health insurance, albeit inferior.
Daughter and I both go into robot mode in emergencies. No emotion until it's all over.
Hercules worked for an Irish crystal company (think New Year's eve ball). They wanted him to start alternating one month here and one month in Europe. With the Nugget, that wasn't going to be interesting at all. "Here" was questionable, too. Since they'd been taken over by a British china company (think a certain famous blue pattern), they'd been closing offices and consolidating, so "here" might be Philadelphia. Hercules was disenchanted by the whole thing, so he interviewed with a utility company practically next door to the current job, and accepted their offer.
There's a delay before the new company's insurance kicks in.
Oh, forgot. Neither job is contract. Both are as a regular employee. The Man likes contracting because he has the freedom to take off if he ever needs a large block of time. Jay hated contracting because if you need a regular paycheck, you never get any vacation.
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