Ouch,
Thank God For Health Insurance.
A few years ago I was awakened in the middle of the night at the sound of my 4 year old, crying out in pain. I ran into her room and quickly took a deep breath to compose myself both for her sake and mine.
After several minutes of trying to pin down where the pain was and what the cause could be I came to the conclusion that it was beyond my limited skill. With the exception of the excruciating pains she was suffering, she seemed stable and we decided that we would take her to the emergency room ourselves, rather than wait for an ambulance.
With skills that would have made my EVOC instructor proud I careened through the night in the old family wagon, arriving at the hospital in record time. We rushed into the emergency room and signed in with the clerk who asked us to sit down until the triage nurse could check on her, who was still wreathing and crying out in pain.
Both Mom and I sat nervously, in fear of what it could be and trying to stay calm for her sake. I will never forget the expression on her little face as she looked at me and said, “Daddy, make it stop!” I held her close to me and began patting her the back as she sat on my lap in an attempt to comfort her. I noticed, as she sat on my lap, that she began emitting gases, in a manner and at a decibel level that both embarrassed mom and I and would have earned awards the end of a cabbage-eating contest. Then as suddenly as the odyssey began it ended. She stopped crying, began to fidget out of boredom, then turned to me, took my face in both of her little hands and said, “Daddy, can we go home and play now.”
I was able to retrograde from the hospital, with out loss of resources or the use of my medical benefits. We quietly returned home in the now smoking and well-tested family wagon with a soundly sleeping four-year old.
Her agony and mine was matched as your Insurance and Benefits Committee struggled with negotiations over the 2011 premium rates. Lets face it; the economy is bad. For the first time in my career we are facing pay cuts. We are fighting to keep our hard earned retirement benefits and protect our Line of Duty widows from being left unprotected. Each of us is struggling to make up for the many hours of mandatory overtime dollars that are no longer coming home with us.
It was heart breaking to come to the conclusion that we are not able to avoid adding to your burden as we see yet another increase in your insurance premiums. In this process we looked at every conceivable alternative. Even the possibility of returning to the county offered programs and those offered by PERS would have resulted in astronomical increases for less coverage. If you don’t believe me, ask your Sergeant how much his/her premiums are.
Now insurance is paid for in premiums. The quality and cost is driven in either a cap in how much you can use, the co-pay or the amount of premiums. We looked at several scenarios to try and reduce premiums and ended up with that fact that no matter what we did, premiums would go up. Slightly less if we increased co-pays or reduced benefits, but they would still increase.
Retirees cost us too. As you might expect, they cost more than that young healthy deputy who just finished the academy. They have earned it though, if for nothing else, just putting up with us young pups learning how to practice our profession (this is the only context that I can refer to myself as a young pup).
No matter your political views, the federal health care bill costs us as well. Because we offer the best medical care plans available, often referred to as “Cadillac Plans” some of the costs for this year was somewhat mitigated. It is estimated that 15% of our current health care costs are related to previous federal legislation. Kaiser Plans estimate that .5% of there 16.5 percent of HMO premium increase is related to the government healthcare bill. Blue Shield HMO increased 1.5% of a total 14. % of premium, due to the unknowns of bill. Let me remind you that this is only the 1st year of this expensive regulatory government healthcare plan.
The other part of the formula is usage. Every time we go to the doctor we take a piece of the pie that controls our premium costs. This year, as in the last it was not abuse of the insurance or even the older participants that cost so much, it was our younger members with major illnesses.
With all of these issues weighing heavy on us, we finally came to the realization that we now and always have had simple goals for this benefit trust. Number one is to provide the very best medical benefit for you and your family. Second to provide for our retirees, who without our supplement would receive only $25.00 per month for medical insurance. Finally to keep our premium costs below what PERS and the county offer for the same plan.
On example of the fruits of your sacrifice is David Griffin, a young veteran of the Army National Guard joining the Sheriff’s Department in September 2008. Now David reminds me of a kid on Christmas morning, enjoying every second of his life, facing it with energy and optimism. Even in the worst circumstances he manages to shoot you a smile, the kind that could talk even the meanest parolee out of his sack lunch and back into a safety cell signing jingle bells. I also noticed a steel hard look deep in his eyes, the kind that revealed the determination and battle experience that says “Mission Accomplished” in confident assurance.
When David was hired he brought with him his young wife, Rebekah and two absolutely adorable kids, Ethan who is now 4-years old and Anna who is 3-years old. One more Deputy Sheriff Trainee, Titus, who is 18-months old, joined the department and family as well.
I have to tell you, you would be impressed with Rebekah Christine. After about 30 seconds with her you can see that both in word in action that she enthusiastically loves God, Loves David and Loves her Children. I have it on pretty good authority that they all love her too.
After completing the Class 178 of the Basic Academy, David was assigned to the Larry Smith Correctional Facility and began to settle in to a new life and career as a deputy sheriff.
This story happens over and over again, but David’s journey began to take a detour that has had a profound effect on his family and all of those who know him. To his surprise, he began to notice a lack of energy and even though he is very active and athletic he was having trouble getting through the day.
A couple visits to the doctor proved fruitless until he was encouraged to get another opinion. With quality medical care you can get a second opinion and change doctors. In January of 2010, just 16 months after being hired by the department he was diagnosed with Leukemia.
David and his family have been aggressively fighting his ailment since that time. The look in David’s eye, that steel cold look, gives me every confidence that he and his family will defeat this beast.
David still has projected about two more years of treatments. Rebekah shared with me that she has already seen bills that exceeded one million dollars, paid by their insurance carrier. Although we don’t have to deal with all of the probing, needles, treatments, extended hospital stays, nausea, exhaustion and ups and downs of daily treatment, my friend, you and are in this battle for David too, as members of this exclusive trust that provides our medical needs. You can check in with David by viewing a short slide show of his journey on Utube, looking for “David’s battle (2)”
Unfortunately, David is not the only one in our law enforcement family battling cancer and other serious ailments. Our fight together continues for each of them.
So I guess I should end this by apologizing for underestimating you. I some times forget that your resolve to stand by your beat partners and their family transcends your concern for pocketbook. Maybe this information will help you to more clearly define and embrace your participation in the Benefit Trust
"So, my very dear friends, don't get thrown off course. Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light. "
James 1:17 (The Message)
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