One thing my family has been actively working on this past year is getting out of debt. I actually started a debt payoff journey on YouTube early last year, but ended up not keeping up with it after a couple of months because life got extremely busy between work, the pandemic, and of course, medical issues. I may try to start again in the new year, but I make no promises.
It’s no secret that I deal with medical issues on a daily basis. I’ve had foot issues since third grade, including custom orthotics, surgery in 5th grade, constant pain, and surgeries again in 2017. I’ve had KT Tape, steroid shots, steroid pills, orthotics, braces, boots, surgeries, and still have daily issues with my feet that leave me in pain and limping by the end of the day. In early Summer, I even had a few Physical Therapy (both land and water) sessions, which just reaffirmed that my body doesn’t hold itself correctly, resulting in everything being out of alignment. Unfortunately, all of that physical therapy was out of pocket. On top of that, I had another sleep study due to my constant fatigue, and finally got a diagnosis of Idiopathic Hypersomnia, which means I am tired all of the time, and when given the multiple sleep latency testing, I was asleep in less than 4 minutes each time, so needless to say, I’m a walking zombie most days. Then to top everything off, Labor Day weekend, being the fall risk that I am, I tripped in the backyard, twisting my left ankle while landing on my left knee and left hand, basically messing up my left wrist. I’ve been braced ever since, and have had x-rays, an MRI, steroid shots, steroid pills, and I’m still having mobility issues.
All of that to say, most families deal with medical debt. From prescriptions to co-pays to emergencies. We bought our current house in December of 2015. Since then, we’ve had surgeries in 2016, 2017 (two in this year), 2018, 2019, and 2020. We get yearly x-rays for my third daughter because her left tibia is bowed and each year we see an orthopaedic pediatric surgeon to check her growth. My oldest and myself were diagnosed with Scoliosis in the past two years, so there were x-rays associated with that, my second oldest went to the geneticist (after all four of them and myself had echocardiograms) to rule our Marfan’s Syndrome that our pediatrician suspected based on growth charts, known issues, and hypermobility. At the moment, we are in the Hypermobility Spectrum Disorder category, bordering on Hypermobility Ehler’s Danlos Syndrome. Let’s not forget the orthodontist. That’s not even covered with medical insurance. The oldest is still in braces (paid off), the second oldest is finally out of braces (also paid off), but the two youngest will probably need them as well, not to mention keeping an eye on wisdom teeth in the upcoming years.
In 2020, the surgery that happened wasn’t one that was planned. My oldest daughter ended up with a ruptured appendix, and spent a week in the children’s hospital. It was definitely her brush with death, because it was that serious, but most of the bills that we are still currently paying on are a combination from that fiasco and my physical therapy from this year.
Here is our Medical Debt for the upcoming new year.
We didn’t start with all of those medical bills in January 2021, but as the year progressed, they were added into the mix. Overall in 2021, we paid off $3,432.74. This doesn’t include prescriptions or co-pays throughout the year. Unfortunately, with a new year comes a deductible reset, meaning when we go to the orthopaedic pediatric surgeon in January for a new x-ray on that bowed tibia, that will be another $600-$800 that we’ll be adding to this payoff list, and who knows what awaits my wrist this year! Thankfully we are on payment plans. Some of the hospitals were more flexible than others with payment arrangements, but we’ve been faithfully making payments. Sadly, the total minimum of $475.70 is more than my car payment is! Thankfully it is all 0% interest, and if we can just bubble wrap ourselves, we may actually get this stuff paid off!