[SchmennaLeigh]

I am quite angry.

We just received a bill for P's second (4 month) Well Baby appointment. $283.00. Insurance covered approximately $40.00+ and nothing else. I called to ask why.

Turns out that our insurance has a $500.00 cap on first year Well Baby appointments. (Every year thereafter has a $150.00 cap.) What is $500.00 supposed to do when his first (two month) appointment was $467.00? We can't switch to have our vaccinations at our county clinic because we make too much money and so we're being penalized by our own insurance. Flipping fantastic.

This cap didn't exist when Nick was in his first year. He had all of his appointments and selected vaccinations without us paying more than our usual copay. So, this was an outrageous surprise. We can fit it into the budget of course but it's an annoying inconvenience. A frustrating one at that, especially considering when I asked to speak to a manager when I was on the phone with my insurance's customer service, the representative LAUGHED AT ME. WHAT?!

There's nothing we can do, either. This is the plan that my husband's employer selected and, if you know anything about city government, causing waves is not a particularly great way to make sure you keep your job through retirement. I'm just astounded that an insurance company would even OFFER this as part of a plan. WHAT good does this do families?

I was visiting Josh at work just the other day and was sharing the story with his best friend at work and another close coworker who is expecting his second child this summer. The latter didn't know about the new cap either and, as he's a pay grade above my husband, they also don't qualify for county vaccinations. Thankfully, they learned about it from me and have enough time to pre-budget as opposed to the likes of us who are re-budgeting. I know, I know. It's our duty to read our benefit book but I've never even HEARD of a cap on Well Baby visits so I simply missed this one.

Just passing this on in case your insurance is equally lame.

[kelceesmom]

That is awful Jenna. You are right what good is it if you have that small of a cap? Maybe $1500 or $2000 but $500. That's a spit in a bucket. I'm really surprised at that one. Good luck in the re-budget area. It would be very difficult for me to have to do that.

[dragonfly1234]

Jenna that really does made a person extremely angry! This happened to us a few years ago and many people were caught off guard like us. I called and questioned and had many others call to question and complain. The next year they made the appropriate changes(of course it didn't help that year for us). Don't know if this will work for you?. Good luck on the re-budget....not a fun thing to have to do mid way thru the year.