*This post has been sponsored by Mom Central Consulting and Aflac but all opinions remain my own. Full disclosure is at the bottom of the post.
I’ll be honest, paperwork confuses me. I have to set aside time to focus, read, and reread information before I can comprehend it. Any paperwork over two or three pages is overwhelming to me. School loans {thankfully paid off!}, a will {which we have to sit down and read over our draft before we make it official}, retirement choices, any type of medical or insurance paperwork. I understand all of these things in theory but instead of just assuming I’m making the right choices and winging it I want to slow down and carefully consider everything. I don’t want to cross my fingers and hope that I my husband has enough money to retire one day, or that he’ll have enough money if I happen to pass away, or that I’ll have the insurance or savings built up to cover an emergency. I enjoy being prepared…even if that takes a lot of effort on my part.
Some expenses people incur are obvious ones, ones that should have been planned for. Wedding anniversaries come once a year, I can’t for the life of me understand why people don’t save money for them or add them to their budget instead of charging an expensive gift. Of course buying a gift they can afford or making a homemade gift would be great too. School clothes and supplies are a hassle every year….every year. Devise a plan to pay for them instead of paying off your credit card till Christmas when you’ll pile on more debt. It just makes sense to me!
With medical expenses, things are less black and white. You never know when an emergency will arise. You have to consider your family’s health and bank account and weigh the options. Do you have the money in savings to cover $X amount of bills? Would you rather pay for someone else to cover your costs in the event something were to happen? Everyone’s situation is unique.
This time last year I was in the hospital and it was totally unexpected. I went to the doctor to complain about a pain I was having and ended up spending days in the hospital. I had a follow up visit to remove a pump they put in. Then I had surgery a few weeks later. Again, I had more follow up visits. These were definitely some unexpected medical costs!
I’ve seen some dear friends and family really come close to losing everything after an unexpected medical emergency. Even with medical insurance the out of pocket costs added up quickly.
The Aflac Real Cost Calculator is a great tool that can help you break down the expenses of medical care. I spent some time playing around with the different scenarios and the numbers were crazy! A broken leg seems like a common procedure but it costs over $10,000!
I heard somewhere that medical debt is the number one cause of bankruptcy and I would have to agree with that. If people have planned ahead and had a savings account built up then I would say skip the insurance but if they don’t, Aflac insurance might be a good safety net to have. Aflac helps offset the out of pocket cost of medical bills. If you’re interested in getting this extra safety net for your family check our the Aflac Real Cost Calculator for yourself.
I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for Aflac. I received a promotional item as a thank you for participating.
About Ashley
That really is a great tool. I swear every time I think we are saving ANY money, some health surprise comes and knocks out our savings account!!!
A great way to see where the money is spent, thanks for sharing.
I agree with you, it’s really important to read through EVERYTHING with a fine-tooth comb, especially because as you said, so much of the paperwork is convoluted and confusing…too many potential loop-holes!
Always always ALWAYS read through. So often human error leads to double charges or incorrect charges. We had a $5000 bill for my husband for a doctor appointment — he’s never seen that physician! As in, ever- or anyone in that practice. It was crazy and I had to fight a long time to get it fixed
We are looking into getting Aflac. Luckily we do have SOME savings if anything were to happen, but we’d still rather save that money for things like college for our son.
Totally agree you have to go over all the fine print on any medical bills. We are having to do that now.
Medical costs are so crazy. Actually, make that crazy and scary!
I hate medical expenses. You have to take care of yourself so they’re a necessity but when the bills start coming in it’s depressing. Thanks for sharing!
Any medical situation could seriously derail an entire budget. One can’t be TOO prepared. Thanks!
its very scary how high the cost is for medical expenses and I am very fortunate to have most of my medical expenses covered by my hubbies military insurance