it seems a different world to look back at my first post on odin’s medical bill, when i noted in astonishment that his total bill could, quite possibly, be well over $1,000,000. we haven’t added up all the numbers on all the paperwork that we’ve received, but this is only one bill amongst a pile that is beginning to rival odin’s medical record in size.

that’s right. the amount on the total line is almost a quarter of a million dollars! for one bill. amongst hundreds. and they’re still coming in the mail.

of course, as i wrote lo’ those many months ago, we’re mostly lucky – very lucky – as we don’t have to pay the vast, vast, vast majority of the bills that come everyday.

but it’s hard to be lucky 100 percent of the time.

despite our apparent luckiness, sometimes we’re suprised when we open an envelope and see big numbers next to “patient responsibility” – i.e. this what the billing party believes we should pay.

today we found this in the pile of mail. a bill for $2,455.80. are you sitting down? this is the bill for a single rsv shot. a single shot. little odin has had three shots and today we learned that only one – the very first one – was covered. which means, i guess, we can patiently wait for a second bill for almost $2,500. for a single shot.

how could this be? how could one shot be covered but not the other two? as near as we can tell, soon after we were intially approved for rsv shot my healthcare plan decided to hand their pharmacy benefits management component to caremark who has sent a letter explaining in all capital letters:

“SPECIALTY DRUGS ARE NOT ELIGABLE”

oooooh. how progressive of caremark. not only do they not cover home delivery which is known to reduce the chance of a micropreemie getting sick due to going to pediatrician’s office during the height of rsv season – but they don’t cover the rsv shot at all!

how very nice of them to take two months to notify us that significant change of benefits.

gaarrrgh!