First and foremost I’m grateful. Grateful for being able to stand upright each day and do things that I love. Grateful for having a job that offers insurance at a hefty discount. Grateful I didn’t go to a facility not covered and end up with much higher out of pocket costs.

I will say however that these recent health events have not been cheap. Without insurance the combined total would be $50k. Insurance covered $9,073 and my out of pocket responsibility is $7,118. The most recent claim, originally $22,474 came in and was pending for an entire week. Several nervous breakdowns later I saw how much I owed and was relieved. Thought it was going to be another thousand dollars.

After paying $13k in student loan payments last year, the last thing I wanted to think about was owning someone else money. To anyone else trying to relate, image feeling like a slave for 8 years and once you get your papers to become a “free” man, you are thrown back into slavery until your debt obligation has been furnished.

The biggest thing now is to cut my expenses and keep fighting the good fight….