I’ve Been Shot!

It happened Friday on my way home from work. I got shot three times, even: twice in the left arm and once in the right arm. And yes, it hurt.

Of course, I’m talking about inoculations. My doctor’s appointment was on Friday. Hillside Family Medicine is just down the street from my house and are a very friendly office, with mostly women (I think there might be two men) employed there.

When I made the appointment I asked for a worst-case idea on the total cost since they require payment up-front (they bill insurance and refund any overlap). She told me that the tetanus, typhoid and yellow fever shots would each be $130, and the rabies was a series of three shots each one costing $200. Added to that would be the office visit plus the prescriptions for the malaria pills and the antibiotics needed for emergencies – and I was planning on paying roughly $1,100.

Ouch!

Thankfully, it didn’t hurt my pocket book nearly as much as expected. Turns out my tetanus and yellow fever shots were up-to-date (heck, I didn’t even know I’d had the yellow fever inoculation) and they let me prorate the rabies, paying only as I get them (the second one is 7 days after the initial shot and the third one is 21 days after that). The prescriptions I won’t have to pay for until I get them filled, and they went ahead and billed the insurance directly for the office visit.

All together, I only paid $430.00

According to the booklet my employer gave me when I got hired, my insurance covers “preventative maintenance” issues at 100%. I called them to make sure it meant what I thought it meant, and the girl on the other end of the phone said that as far as she could tell, it did indeed mean just that. I just may get that money refunded!

Wouldn’t that be nice?