Health Insurance

Health insurance.

It’s a must if you have kids.

Unfortunately, health insurance seems to be one of the first things companies drop or change in their attempt to save money.  My husband’s company is no exception.

Looking back, I am so thankful that we had the insurance we had during our pregnancies.  At the time I didn’t realize how good we had it.

With both our pregnancies we were sent to an ultrasound specialist.  With our daughter it was because they were afraid something was wrong with her heart.  Since there is a family background of heart defects (OneDaddy and my nephew), we took this seriously.  Thankfully the specialist thought everything looked fine with her heart, but there was still a concern about her low weight – so we had numerous ultrasounds the last couple months of pregnancy before they finally opted to induce me.  (Turns out little Peanut had them all fooled – her itty-bitty hips had them thinking she was under 5 pounds, but she actually was 5.5.)

Then there was my little Monkey.  On the day we discovered he was a boy, our joy was short-lived.  There were concerns that he may have Down’s, and so we were once again scheduled to see the ultrasound specialist.  The specialist eased our minds some, but since little guy would not cooperate and let us see his face in any ultrasound, they continued to do weekly ultrasounds the last 3 months of the pregnancy.  Yes, I know, at any time I could have refused the ultrasounds.  After all, nothing we found out would have changed my mind, we were having this baby.  But, like any mother, I wanted to do whatever was best for my baby.  Having good family health insurance and not having to worry about the out-of-pocket expenses gave us one less thing to worry about.

It’s a shame that changing, or dropping, insurance benefits is one way that companies react to the current economy.  It makes it difficult for a young family starting out to focus on the important things, like the health and well-being of their children, when they must weigh financial concerns into the mix.