I am thankful for the health insurance provided to me by the organization I work for. And I'm thankful that my husband has insurance provided by the union he works for. Together, it should make us both 100% covered except that his insurance doesn't cover as many items.
My work switched providers this year from Premera Blue Cross (which provided excellent service) to a newer company I had never heard of, ODS. Apparently they are pretty big in the northwest and are pushing into Alaska. That's all well and good. We've been told our coverage is the same as before, however there are always trials and errors dealing with a new company.
My doctor has referred me to a sleep clinic because I snore, drool, snarf, snark, and make all sorts of noises when I'm "sleeping". I also wake up often gasping for air, so I know I haven't been breathing for awhile. My husband says he's listened to me stop breathing and he's tried to hold his breath as long as I wasn't breathing. Apparently it's hard to do because my breathing doesn't kick back in quickly.
I looked up my new health insurance online to find out which sleep clinic in Anchorage is on the preferred provider list. There are at least 3 of them that I know of, so I'm fairly certain that one of them might be a preferred provider. The only way to get the answer online is to list the type of doctor or clinic in a field and then your zip code in another field. The system is supposed to come up with the providers that are closest to your zip code and included in our PPO group.
My preferred clinic is in Oregon. Now I don't know about you, but I'm not willing to take a 3 hour flight to Seattle, switch planes, fly to some airport in Oregon, rent a car and cheerfully show up at a sleep clinic to have a restful night hooked up to monitors and then return home.
I'm planning to pick a clinic, any clinic, and trust that they will provide insurance like they are supposed to. I'll let you know how that goes. Sleep well.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
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7 comments:
Good thing you're going to the sleep clinic because it sounds like you are not getting the deep sleep that you need. Maybe you'll have to get a machine like Krissy.
Oregon? What? Can't you just go to your local clinic and have the sleep study done? My hubby just recently had that done and just went to the clinic we usually go to for doctor visits. That seems such poor service for you to have to consider going out of state for that. Very strange.
Hope everything works out for you. I know my hubby feels much better using the machine.
I'm praying that everything will work in your favor. I can't imagine having to go to a sleep clinic. I didn't know there was such a thing.... The things we take for granted. Thank GOD for health insurance, some people never see the point in it until the really need it. My 94 year old friend is not qualified for medicare, what kind of mess is that?
Keep us posted. I'm glad you have your husband there to hold your hand through this and the migraines.
Love, peace and blessings!
I love my C-pap machine. Go get one and your life will be better. Sleep is a very good thing.
Our new insurance does seem pretty lame-o! I think it'll still pay a portion, like 50% if you don't use a perferred provider. You should check into it.
On another note...would Tim ever try to wake you up, say you stop breathing like for 3 minutes or something?! Not implying anything, just saying... :)
I'm sure sweetie would wake me up if I went too long. But I do wake gasping like a fish out of water. He has plugged my nose before to get me to quit snoring....talk about waking up cranky.
Been there...done that! I can't tell you how much better I felt after a sleep test and being diagnosed with sleep apnea...and then using the CPAP for about three years.
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