Double Debt Single Woman

Storm Clouds on the Job Front

Posted on March 21, 2015 by Double Debt Single Woman

Ahh! The hits keep comin’.

As you know, I now have the task of paying this emergency room bill, which will clean out my tiny savings account and consume most of my next paycheck. After that I have to save up to pay for the surgery that I must have. I now have another reason to save up whatever money I can.

My company has been in cost-cutting mode for years, since before I joined. The magnifying glass and knife have finally made it around to our division. We had a dreaded ‘re-org’ at work this week. Re-orgs (re-organizations) sadly aren’t uncommon where I work. There seem to be at least one or two re-orgs every year. Sometimes re-orgs are just a result of executives being shuffled around, small divisions merging, large divisions branching, etc. Other re-orgs are due to a reduction in force.

This re-org was the second kind and was the first one to affect my division since I started working there. In one day, our Director here in our satellite office, was sacked, and was escorted out with the proverbial cardboard box. Furthermore, a bunch of Read More

My ER Medical Bill: The Numbers are In

Posted on March 16, 2015 by Double Debt Single Woman

I got the claim details email from by insurance provider not long ago for my recent emergency room visit. I became physically nervous when I saw that email in my inbox. The dollar amount on that form could impact my financial situation for months (or years) if my insurance company wanted to find loopholes to deny benefits. What was the financial damage? Well, in short, better than feared, worse than hoped.

The hospital bill was $11,287.03. My portion, thanks to my (high deductible) insurance, will be $3,020.50. I haven’t been presented with the bill yet so I have some time to plan. With my savings and another paycheck or two, I should be able to pay this off relatively quickly. Unfortunately, this will drain my savings back to nothing.

Immediately after that I will need to start saving money to pay for the surgery. I should have another $2,000-$3,000 to pay for that before maxing out my out-of-pocket expenses for the year.

Thanks to blonderbetterfasterstronger for reminding me about my HSA (Health Savings Account). For many of us with high-deductible health plans, we also have an HSA that allows us to save up to $3300 a year, pretax to be saved for health care costs. If used to cover health care, the money does not incur tax at payment either and is thus 100% tax-free. I opened my HSA last year. I should have about $2,000-$3,000 in there by now.

I don’t want to use this HSA money now, however. I’d prefer to build up my HSA savings as we are allowed to house our HSA money in investments to grow it over time. I think of it as a mini retirement investment account for healthcare. It will serve me better to cover more expensive medical procedures down the road.That’s my thinking for now anyway.

So, all in all, not so bad of a financial hit. I should be able to pay for these medical expenses by the end of June and then get back on track to build up savings and attack my student loan debt. It’s a delay, but a necessary one.

“Debtor’s prison is real, and opportunity cost is a bitch.” (DDSW)

The Post Where DDSW Falls Back into Credit Card Debt?

Posted on March 15, 2015 by Double Debt Single Woman

Should I have known that it was too good to be true? I was gloriously out of credit card debt for two weeks. Then it happened. The health problem that I’ve been telling you about decided that it didn’t want to wait for me to save up an emergency fund. It sent me to the Emergency Room instead.

It was a 7-hour all-night ordeal of which I will spare you the gory details. The first three hours I spent in the waiting area at the point of tears and in utter pain. I’d never been to an Emergency Room before and let me tell you, that the stereotype of the crowded, underfunded, understaffed ER department was true in my case.

Finally, I was taken into a room where a procedure was performed to relieve the immediate pain. I had some bloodwork done and was given a CT scan. The underlying health problem was confirmed by the scan. Surgery will be required in the near future along with visits to specialists.

After some deliberation about whether I would be kept in the hospital overnight, I was finally allowed to leave around 4:30am.

Thankfully, I have insurance, but it is a high-deductible plan. I don’t yet know what the bill will be for my emergency room visit, but needless to say, it will be much more than the $2k that I have managed to save so far. When the bill comes in, I will be updating my numbers. Hopefully, I will be permitted to pay the bill on an installment plan. If not, it will have to go on the credit card. Sigh.

At least by the time I have the surgery, I will have met my annual out-of-pocket limit. Hopefully, my insurance will pick up the tab from that point forward.

Well, I knew that this would have to be dealt with sooner or later. I suppose fate has brought it forward.

“Debtor’s prison is real, and opportunity cost is a bitch.” (DDSW)

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: