Wednesday, February 25, 2009

My piggy is broke

Seeing as March is knocking at our door, I started the insane task of taxes. I don't know how I received this great honor in our household, but here I am. Once again faced with a looming deadline and the constant nagging that I did something wrong and good ol' uncle sam is going to beat down my door.

This year, we get to include expenses from fertility treatments because they FAR AND AWAY exceeded the 7.5% of our adjusted income. After figuring in treatments, co-pays, meds, parking, mileage, acupuncture, massage, blah blah blah...the grand total is *insert drumroll*...over $35K. That's right. Out of pocket. And that's just one year.

Don't get me wrong...you can't put a pricetag on a child - I will be the first one to wave that flag and stand behind it like a mac truck. But, come on, we need mandatory fertility coverage! This is just insane. Insurance will cover the treatment cost for drug or alcohol abuse (which starts as an individual, totally conscious decision), but it won't cover treatment for a woman who has a disorder preventing her from having babies that she never asked for or did anything to cause. (I know this isn't a great analogy, but its all I can come up with right now). It really doesn't make sense.

I get a little heated when I think of the billions of tax payers dollars (including mine!) it takes to support people who have made bad decision after bad decision regarding their lives as well as the lives of their children (welfare, foster care, medicare), and most IFers can't even get a prescription for a fertility drug paid for.

Sorry for the vent. I knew this day would come - the day I had to face the piper and the bill that comes along with him. For the last couple of years I was able to just hand over the plastic with a poop-eating grin and pretend that I had cash to pay it off. But reality has hit me like a ugly brick. I don't regret it for a moment, but dang, our system is more screwy than a lightbulb.

13 comments:

Mermaid said...

Your vent is straight from my heart, as well. Your 2008 medical expenditures top mine, which were only $26,000. Um, congratulations?! I didn't think it was possible to top me in that category.

I get stuck doing the taxes in my house, too, because, well, I'm a tax accountant :)

Martha@A Sense of Humor is Essential said...

AMEN! Great Post! What a crazy country...

sarah said...

Blarg! Seriously. *grumble*

Unknown said...

There needs to be a universal mandate. Even living in a state with mandated coverage (IL) We don’t have any as IL has a ton of little loopholes to exclude just about everybody.

I could rant on about this subject for days... And we are still only approaching the really pricey stuff.

ICLW

Eve said...

Tagging you back from your visit to my bloghouse!

Yikes! That's definitely a pretty penny on fertility treatments...doesn't seem fair that all you get is a dumb little tax break for it.

Mommyhood is definitely worth it, but it's still such a burden to pay so much for treatments, isn't it?

Here's my analogy: I got my gallbladder out with ONE visit to my doctor complaining of stomach pain, ONE x-ray showing gallstones, and ONE visit to a surgeon. The reasoning was that I was trying to get pregnant, and there was a SLIGHT risk that I might have a stuck stone when I was preggers. Furthermore, I have a deviated septum (which doesn't bother me whatsoever), and if I wanted, I could have a free nose job in a second. I also have at my disposal the CHOICE to have an elective c-section since I've already had an emergency one. My insurance company had practically THROWN free surgeries/procedures at me, all except IF treatments, then they wash their hands clean. Why having children, that's a 'lifestyle choice'.

Insurance companies are total hypocrites, they pay for essentially 'unnecessary' procedures all for the sake of 'physical health'. But I would trade all the gallstone attacks in the world to have insurance pay for JUST one IVF cycle.

Sorry so long, I'm just really passionate about this!

infertilityrocks.wordpress.com

Kim said...

I totally agree! Where is that mandate! Luckily my treatments were covered a bit b/c NJ does have a mandate. But it is time for a national one!! ICLW

Misty said...

You have every right to vent.
We have no coverage for IVF and are getting ready to shell out 24K for a shared risk plan, but I am glad to report that my insurance would happily pay for an abortion. Every time I think about that it gets me all worked up.

Jo said...

You are so right. I just pray we can see "justice" in our lifetimes.

Kristin said...

Taxes always have a way of driving home how much we have taken out of our salaries.

Good luck getting your taxes done and I hope you find success in beating IF soon.

~ICLW

Jen said...

Phew that is a crazy amount of money. Worth it, to be sure, but wow. I'm completely with you on the insurance thing.

ME said...

I left you a comment on my blog - I'm interested to know how your GTT test goes next week!

my hope my faith my love said...

I have a business and we just started our taxes about a month ago for the entire year! i feel your pain.

katery said...

it's so annoying isn't it? i'd be willing to bet that if it were men who got pregnant, infertility would be covered under insurance. i have to spend hours on the phone getting the run around in order to get the tiniest thing covered, i think they're banking on people just giving up.