2 of my kids had their tonsils out a few weeks ago:

It was a painful 9 days.  

Lots of popsicles, crying, water, tylenol, ibuprofen, sleep…

When the total bill came for the surgery, it was $500 each. 

I was surprised at how affordable it was.  
Of course…some of it was reduced by our insurance company.

In a lot of the world, health insurance has become standard.  

We don’t take it for granted yet (although, a lot of people do), but it’s so easily accessible (or even required, or provided by the government).

For my family, we do a high deductible plan. We’re healthy. We’ve never met our deductible (so dumb!).

But in the Philippines, it’s not so simple. 

I’ve had a number of questions recently about providing benefits to VAs. 
Tomorrow I’m going to give more info about it.

Today, here’s a bit about health insurance from one of my OFS.
—————–
Having health insurance helps me become a better VA!

A few weeks ago, I injured the meniscus of my left knee. As soon as it was clear that the pain wasn’t going away, my husband took me to the nearest hospital.

A couple of consultations, an X-ray and 6 physical therapy sessions later, my knee is as good as new. I only missed work once, after my first consultation when the pain was really bad and the meds haven’t kicked in yet. And I made up for it that weekend because of deadlines.

I was able to have my knee injury treated as soon as possible because John gave us health insurance. I know this isn’t something most employers would consider but it is one of the reasons why we’re really loyal to him. The fact that he offered lets us know he has our back. We have one less thing to worry about.

Even though we have some form of socialized medicine here in the Philippines, it doesn’t cover everything. Without that health insurance, I would have waited longer to go to the doctor, making my injury worse. Even if I did go to the doctor, I may have opted not to get the physical therapy because it can get too expensive. I wouldn’t have been able to work because of the pain.

Another great thing about having health insurance is that I didn’t feel the need to get another job just to cover my medical cost. I know a lot of employers complain about VAs getting multiple jobs even when they’re hired full-time. But if you look closely, you’ll notice that a lot of VAs start looking for another job when they’re anticipating a big expense. Like, if their child is about to start school, or they’re getting married, having a baby, or when they have a major medical expense.

Since I know I’m covered, I really don’t need to have another job. I just need to focus on the one I have. I have job security and work-life balance. I could not ask for more.
——————-

We have “Value Care” insurance in the Philippines for our team.

Providing health insurance generally keeps workers happy, and prevents them from needing to have another job to find it. I’m definitely not saying it’s something you need to be providing.  In fact, we didn’t do it for more than 10 years while having Filipino specialists working for us. 

I’ll have more info tomorrow.

John