I had a sad experience last week…and at a baby shower of all places. A friend, a couple of years my junior, was getting ready to leave. She stood at the door, gripping her cane, looking uncertainly out on the icy parking lot.

“Would you like an arm to lean on?” I asked her.

“Oh, I sure would.”

I walked her to her car and watched as she maneuvered her cane so that she could get her keys out and climb onto the seat. On the way back to the party, I felt like crying. But then the sadness turned to shock as I realized that could be me.

I can’t afford to be sick. Last month, as I made out a check for $480 for our health insurance premium, I was fed up. We pay nearly $6,000 a year for health coverage and we have an $8,000 deductible. That means all routine exams or office visits come out of our pockets. So do any medications we take. Fortunately, we usually visit the doctor only once or twice a year and we don’t take any prescription medications. But what if we did? 

What if I took Celebrex (at about $3 a pill) or an allergy medication (easily $100 a month)?

Anyway, as I was saying, I was fed up. I requested quotes online from several insurance companies. My phone rang within two minutes. My email inbox exploded with quotes. And you know what? $480 is pretty good for an $8,000 deductible…which is pretty common for people to have. At least people our age. I’m 59.

They have us, friends. The insurance companies have us and there’s no way out. I’ve had this policy for three years. The first few months, it was $287 a month. The idea was to use the high deductible policy as a major medical and to establish a savings account for things like glasses and office visits. At under $300 a month, we could afford to do that. We could put away another hundred or so and feel good about it. Then the premium went up a hundred dollars. Later it rose again. Who can afford a health savings account on top of a $500 a month policy? Not us.

So what can we do?

My friend has no choice. She had major surgery and has some big health concerns. I’m more fortunate—right now. The thing is, as we age there is potential for more problems to arise. I can’t afford to be sick…financially or otherwise. I’ve been entrusted with several young lives. I have to stay healthy…and fit, if only for self preservation.

So now what? Well, as a foster parent I must have a yearly health exam. That’s good. Otherwise, I might not get one. BUT THAT ISN’T ENOUGH.

I haven’t had a mammogram in years. I have NEVER had a colonoscopy. I don’t know what my cholesterol level is. Or my blood sugar level, for that matter. These are things that could detect problems before they become threats. Before I have to have a knee replacement or an angioplasty.

This year I think I’ll visit the local health fair. I’ll pay the small fee to have the blood work-up. That one test covers a lot of things. And I need to schedule some routine tests at the office. Again, they are costly, but not as costly as the problems they could avert.

Tests recommended for people 50 and over are:

Cholesterol level…which can be done at a health fair blood draw.  At least once every five years to predict risk of heart disease

Diabetes testing: Important if you are at risk for developing diabetes 

The website below can throw some insight on your risk.

http://www.diabetes.org/risk-test.jsp

Mammogram (for women) Yearly

Prostate screening (for men) After 50, your risk of getting prostate cancer increases substantially

Vision and hearing tests (more important as we grow older)

Tests for colorectal cancer (especially with a history)

Bone density test (especially important in post-menopausal women)

The website below is a fun test to take to see what your “real age” is…as opposed to your chronological age.

http://www.oprah.com/health/lifestages/realage/health_real_main.jhtml

A word about prostate screening: My Dear Husband had some problems with pain in the scrotum area. He had a digital exam (no…we’re not talking digital versus analog, we’re talking digits as in “let your fingers do the walking.”)  The doctor told him his prostate was too firm and sent him to a specialist. Three months and $2000 later, his test results came back…negative. Turns out, some men normally have firm prostates. Who knew? Certainly not the doctor who sent us on the wild goose chase. But wait. If the tests had come back positive, we’d be forever grateful to that physician.

But there is a lot of dissention over when to have a prostate exam. The disease is usually slow-growing. For this one, you need to talk to your doctor.  

But back to the health insurance dilemma.  

Our foster children are covered under Medicaid until they’re 18, so we don’t need a family plan. We thought about canceling our insurance, as many people do, and just trusting that we won’t need it. After all, we could probably handle a bill of $8000…it’s just payments, right?

Except that a three day hospital stay can easily cost that much and more. Everything is billed separately…the clinic where you are first diagnosed, the specialist who sends you to the lab to have tests, the lab that does the tests and the technician who reads them, the nurse who checks you in, the doctors who check you out, the surgeon who wields the knife, the anesthesiologist who puts you to sleep so you don’t feel it, AND every Bandaid  and cotton swab adds to your bill.

My gall bladder had to be removed six weeks before they started using laparoscopic surgery in our town. My bill was in the tens of thousands.

Insurance isn’t a luxury. But still, many of us can’t afford it. A man I know waited for three painful years—until he was 65—to have a hip replacement so that Medicare would cover the surgery.

That doesn’t seem fair, does it? To have to wait that long after he has supported his family all his life, sent his children to college and owned a business.

And it’s not fair that Beyonders, who are giving up retirement years to help others, often find themselves out on a limb where insurance is concerned.

One solution is the professionalization of foster care, which would allow some of us to qualify for government or agency policies.

Another idea is for foster parent support groups to “unionize” and apply for group insurance under that umbrella.

But if none of this reaches you where you live, it becomes VITAL to care for yourself: to get the tests and the annual exams, exercise and diet.

After all, we’re important people. A lot is riding on our ability to do our jobs. We can’t afford to be sick.