One of the downsides to starting to work with a brand new company is that not all the details have been ironed out yet. We have yet to figure out the vacation/sick time for the support staff, but more importantly, we have no insurance. The day I left the old job they canceled my insurance that very day, even though I had paid my portion of the premium until the end of April.
My plan was to get both Tony and my prescriptions filled for a full month in April so we wouldn’t have to worry about the transition. Well, that didn’t work out. Between the two of us, we typically spend about $4,000 out of pocket for our yearly prescriptions – and that’s WITH insurance. Guess how much 5 insulin pens costs without insurance? $280. I don’t even want to know how much the rest of our meds would cost.
Oh, but wait, we have COBRA! Um, guess how much that is? For our small family of three, the premium would be $1,980 a month. Crazy isn’t it? My boss hopefully will have an idea by Wednesday of this week when the new insurance gets up and running. I’ve never not had insurance before – what’s the longest you’ve ever gone without having insurance?
Yesterday I had an egg beater/american cheese/ham burrito – I love these 2 point lavash wraps. š
The weather was kind of iffy, but when I talked to Tony he said “bring an umbrella just in case” on my walk. I thought I had one in the truck, but I didn’t. I figured – I’ll just get wet! Sure enough at my 25 minute turn around point, the heavens opened and it just downpoured – but you know what? I ran in the rain! I loved it. My usual 50 minute walk turned into a 40 minute walk/run. My hair was soaked, but since its so short now, I just towel dried it and 45 minutes later, it was all dry.
Lunch was a plate that Hannah would love – she loves tiny bits of different things. My plate: 4 ounces shrimp, 1.5 ounces fresh mozzarella, 2 tablespoons spicy hummus, carrots and sesame crackers. With another apple and two clementines on the side – lunch comes in at 11 points.
I also did bone in chicken breasts, because they were on sale for $1.29 a pound – my package of 4 breasts was $4.02!
In the June 2011 FoodNetwork magazine, they had a recipe for Carolina-Style Barbecue Chicken. Since I am the only one who likes a mustard based bbq sauce, I halved the recipe – you use about 2-3 tablespoons per serving – 2 PointsPlus each.
Carolina-Style Barbecue Sauce
- 1/4 cup yellow mustard
- 1/8 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1/8 cup brown sugar (I used splenda brown sugar)
- 2 teaspoons mustard powder1 teaspoon hot sauce (I used Frank’s)
- 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon of melted butter
Mix well. You can either marinate your chicken in this mixture, or just use as a bbq sauce while grilling – I just used it as a bbq sauce. Don’t let the tanginess of this stop you from trying it – once it starts to grill, the brown sugar kind of carmelizes and its a whole other flavor once grilled – so good!
I made rosemary potatoes in a small cast iron skillet on the side.
My plate – about 6 ounces of chicken breast (no skin – the dog loved it!), potatoes and green beans – 11 PointsPlus. 
Stats for Monday:
- 40 minute walk/run in the rain
- 36 Points (including wine)
- 33 flex points remain for the week
- 4 activity points earned
I am just about to take some apple muffins out of the oven – if they turn out, I’ll post the recipe tomorrow. Happy Tuesday!
Writing from Canada I cannot BELIEVE all the comments I am reading about health insurance, or the lack thereof. My husband and I pay $102. a month for our universal insurance, that’s it!! No deductible, nothing. Luckily we are relatively healthy. Although over the last 8 weeks my husband has had a detaching retina, and then if finally fully detached. Both treatments with the ophthalmologist, (laser surgery, plus follow ups) have cost us $0.00. We have had to buy four prescriptions, but that has not even come to $200. Scary to think of what people in the US have to pay for their insurance, and terrifying to think of having an illness and not having any insurance. I am going into the hospital in 10 days for a screening procedure and again it will not cost a penny.
Take very good care of yourself until your health insurance kicks in. (It goes without saying – take care of yourself always š )
Someone may have already mentioned this, but would one of the short-term plans for insurance be an option? I know BCBS offers a 3mos plan for people needing to bridge the gap. I’m not sure if it’s cheaper than COBRA, but it might be worth checking into! COBRA is ridiculous.
That egg and ham burrito looks godly. lol
Ahh that sucks, esp w/ your guys monthly prescriptions. My Grammy’s insurance had lapsed for a bit and she had diabetes. I remember taking her to go get the little test strips and this tiny little box was like $80!!!!! I hope you get something straightened out soon!!
I’m sorry but reading your post about the cost of cobra and your meds really piss me off. We live in the wealthiest, most developed country and we can’t even provide the most basic necessities for our citizens? I’m sorry but that’s wrong. For profit institutions, like health insurance companies do not care/have a moral obligation to society. I just don’t understand why you have to pay so much out of pocket…well, actually I do, but i don’t want to upset your readers.
I love your photos and posts! Happy thoughts!
My mom does insurance for the school district here and has put the fear of God in me about insurance. Once Ryan is out of the Army, I’m out insurance until I’m finished with school and/or get a big girl job while I finish. It stresses me out. I have lady parts to consider!
Thank God I have never had to do without insurance. I have an autistic child who has had numerous health problems. He has had 15 surgeries in 19 years. I have been out a lot of money just in co-pays, I can’t imagine if I had to foot the whole bill.
As always, your food looks excellent!
cobra can be retroctive right? in case of emergency you can always go back and activate it.
Just want you to know what an inspiration your blog is to me! I check every day and I just love your honesty. I especially love that you share your daily life. .. . good & bad, as well as the food part. You and I started this journey at about the same time and I have really been messing around with it. . . . not tracking well, not tracking wine, not exercising. I’ve lost 10 lbs. which is probably more than I deserve. So, keep up the good work, you’re an inspiration!
Aw, thanks Susan! This comment made my day! š
Hi Biz, so hope the insurance issue is resolved soon!!!!
Health care costs are so outrageous! I have never been without health care ever! We will have to help our daughter secure health care as she rolls off our plan in October but she will still have one year of college left!
Luckily, I have never been without health insurance. It can be so stressful to be without it though.
I love running in the rain! I don’t get to do it often, living in Vegas, but it’s always so much fun!
Prescriptions are brutal. Both my husband and I are on a buttload of allergy pills and my little one is starting up on some too. I couldn’t imagine paying for all of those our of our pocket. I’m praying that things get settled at your new job soon! Until then, remind your family to take their multivitamin, wear their face masks and no rough housing until you have coverage again! Lockdown until insurance kicks in! š
The only time I haven’t had health care was between my first and second job as an adult (yes I’ve only had 2 jobs in 20 years!) I wasn’t going to pay the cobra which was $2,000.00 because I only had to wait 60 days and I figured – what can happen in 60 days? Umm.. my 3 year old daughter breaking her arm, with the x-rays, cast, dr. visits it was WAY more than $2,000 so I had to pay it š
It stinks that we live in a society where people who are sick can’t get help or won’t go to the doctor to find out what’s wrong because they can’t pay for it. It’s insane!
Yum!! That dinner looks amazing! I bet the potatoes cooked on the grill would give such a lovely smoke flavor to it!
I’m without insurance for the first time ever at 55 – I am unemployed also for the first time ever. I could not afford the $630 monthly preminum for a policy with a 10K deductible. Now that I have been without insurance I won’t be able to buy individual coverage due to pre-existing conditions , not that I could even begin to pay for it with no income.
Small employers don’t want to hire me as I am an expensive employee to insure as their preminums are based on not only health but age. If I can’t find a job with a very large employer I will have to wait for medicare at age 65, if it exists.
I am just hoping at this point to find ANY job.
We went seven years with only catastrophic health coverage, which meant that we paid for everything – and the year that I had two MRI’s, two CT scans, a hospitalization, ophthalmologist visits every month, meds that cost $100/month for one Rx that I had to take for a year – well, it nearly bankrupted us. Why this country doesn’t have universal healthcare is beyond me. My blood pressure is rising just remembering all the stress of that time – and I’m talking the financial stress, not the medical stress! ARGH. I hope you get coverage soon. And that it’s good coverage.
Deep breaths. Inhale, exhale…
Luckily I’ve been blessed to have always had health insurance. That has to be extremely stressful. I hope it all works out!
I love the Lavash wraps, too. The problem is that I can’t always find them!
Yum. I may have to try those 2-pt lavash wraps. Your breakfast photo has me salivating. What’s the brand name?
As for health insurance, I’ve only been without it when I was at a new job waiting for the insurance to kick in, so only a few days. But even that scares me. I’m a woman in relatively good health I would say, but I still have meds and like to be proactive about my health care. It scares me to think about what the things I am used to would cost without health care.
I’ll have to check Kelly – I’ll send you an email tonight š
I want that breakfast wrap. Please come cook for me!
Good luck with the health insurance. Such a pain! I don’t think I’ve ever gone very long without it. It would make me very nervous without it! That’s when I’d fall and break something.
Believe it or not, Noel and I accelerated our marriage timeline because of health insurance. I was terrified of being without it.
Sean just switched jobs ( we pay $400 a mo. for just my ins. since I am not working- and we are not married, yet) and we looked up Cobra yesterday since his NEW job ins. starts in July and it’s $450 a mo. for just him. YIKES. Totally stinks, but we need to do it because what if… right? Scary!
I love BBQ chicken….that dinner looked delicious! š
$4,000 on meds with insurance? Sheesh, I hope you get it back FAST! It’s scary not having insurance, but I didn’t have any until a few years ago. I would just pay full price for my meds and my doctor visit. Not plural, b/c I would only go once a year to keep my scrips active. I bought the cheapest insulin, which I think was $15 for a month’s supply at Walmart (it was a 70/30 blend). I really like being able to buy Lantus and humalog now b/c I feel like I have more control. I for sure would be back on the 70/30 blend if I didn’t have insurance! Insulin is so expensive!
I don’t understand how they cancelled your insurance that day! That’s awful! Especially since you were paid through the end of the month. I think you have 30 days in NC, which gives you time for a new policy to kick in. I hope y’all are covered soon, too many things can happen.
I work part time=no insurance benefits. My husband works construction=being dropped like a hot potato everytime he is laid off. We have insurance off and on. Everytime my hubby is laid off and then goes back to work we have to wait three months before we are eligible again. It sucks!!! Never fails…when we are uninsured we end up having some sort of emergency. Kidney stones, kids asthma flares up, etc. Plus I’m diabetic too, I know all about the cost of meds and testing supplies WITH and WITHOUT coverage. It’s sickening!! But we are eligible again the 1st of June. I’m already planning doctors and dentist visits exitedly. You would think I just won the lottery! š
After 9/11 I was laid off, I had to use my unemployment for my COBRA pmts, which left me next to nothing for rent. I finally had to discontinue it – of course then I got struck with the flu. It seemed to take forever to find a job, but once I got health insurance I went to every doctor I knew just to go. :p
How do you get your egg beaters so fluffy? I keep staring at your breakfast wrap drooling.
My co-workers must think I’m crazy – I’m always walking away from my desk drooling over something you posted!
I actually microwaved them – 1 minute exactly for 1/4 cup, 2 minutes for 1/2 a cup š
I made muffins yesterday too!
I’ve never been without insurance as an adult (as a kid, we often didn’t have it because not all of the places my dad worked offered it). College, was covered by my mom. Then Navy, then job (with an overlap). I’ve always been employed with zero breaks between jobs.
It’s so scary not to have health insurance. I feel your pain. When my husband and I moved so he could start a new school there were a couple months before I found a job and the insurance kicked in. We had to pay for meds out of pocket and there’s always that horrible feeling in your gut that something could got wrong and cost a lot of money. Hopefully things get resolved for you soon!
Not having health insurance stinks! I have had several plans over the past 5 years due to job changes and not being able to afford it. I worked in a hospital pharmacy and here is a tip- price out your meds at several pharmacies. The prices vary greatly depending on where you get them filled at. Also, if you take a brand name drug, check online with the manufacturer website. Alot of time they offer “copay cards” that help pay a portion, almost like a coupon. I have seen these cards for insulin pens just a few months ago.
Thanks Janie – I’ll check that out!
Insurance! It’s not fun to pay for, is it? I’ve never been without it. However, at many times I have had high deductible insurance (something like $20,000 deductible) to cover only in the event of a true emergency or major health issue. Those premiums are far more affordable.
As far as running in the rain – that happened to me on Saturday. The worst part was that I was running with my ($600 to replace, therefore irreplaceable iphone) to listen to music. Boy, did I run home FAST when it started raining. My phone was fine.
Whew! I had my iPod with me and it was fine too š
Having no insurance is terrible….I hope it gets straightened out quickly and everyone stays well until then. I don’t know how ppl go without..its a shame it is even happens to anyone.
mmmmm…..grilled chicken…yummy! We have had two days without rain…..its the longest stretch we have gone without rain for nearly 40 days now…but guess what’s in the forecast for today? lol
Yea I use to pay $158 a month for the whole family back in 2008 but after the new owner came along it just kept getting higher and higher. I now pay $646 a month for the family and Mike has to be on his own insurance not with the kids and I. It’s gotten quite crazy. I hope they get you insured quickly. I do know your pain. Your food looked yummy today, that spicy hummus looks like lasagna to me lol.
Hey Biz – no insurance here for a long, long time. I was briefly covered for a year at my old job, but it was lame insurance. John has been without for 6 or 7 years. He needs asthma meds, too. His meds are expensive and we have to pay out of pocket for them. It sucks. When we lived in Illinois, we had basic coverage with Unicare – so check them out. At least to get the emergency coverage. It was not that bad.
NY is one of those states that does not allow Unicare, so we have been unable to afford any of the NY sponsored “private” insurances.
Thanks Lori! š
I just got insurance in November after being without it for almost 5 years. Luckily, I had a fairly healthy 5 years, but it was nerve wracking. My husband has some serious preexisting health issues and because of that can not get health insurance, so he’s without and has health issues. The health care system is such a mess.
I feel for you. We have not had insurance for 7 years – it is cost prohibitive to us and in the mean time I have been diagnosed with health concerns that will make me ineligible forever. Keep in mind my husband makes a great salary but when they want 37% of what he make a month to insure 4 people we cannot afford it.
We don’t live beyond our means. One car. No vacations. No credit cards. No nights out…nothing…but we cannot afford health insurance and I am screwed now because I am sick/terminal.
Yeah, I get it Biz. I am really sorry and Cobra is a joke. I wish you luck. Really.
I always wonder why, being the richest country in the world, we don’t have universal healthcare.
With everything you are going through Skippy – I wanted to thank you for your comment – while its a pain to have to pay full price for medicine for a short while, it’s nothing compared to what you have to deal with being so sick – hugs!!!
Hi Biz! I hope your insurance gets worked out soon. I haven’t had health insurance for a long time – almost five years! As a college student, I just can’t afford it, and I can’t be on my parent’s plans. Thankfully, I don’t take any prescriptions that are too expensive – only 10$ a month. The out of pocket doctor bills are tough, but I make it work somehow. So excited to find a real job with benefits postcollege. š
Tasting plate lunches are my favorite way to have lunch!
Oh Biz, I know this has to be stressful! Just what you need is more stress – NOT. When I was a single mom I once went several years with no insurance. Fortunately there was a clinic I could take Little Helen to, but there was nothing for me. During that time I was trying to teach Little Helen to hit a tennis ball and she hit me in the face with the racket – whacked me hard enough to split my forehead above my eye and give me two huge black eyes. Mr. Helen was there and wanted me to go to the ER but I wouldn’t because I was terrified of the bill. So we went back to my apartment and he used bandaids to hold the cut together. He said, ‘I wish I could give you my insurance card!” So I said, “Marry me and then you can!” (He didn’t propose, can you believe it?) Maybe it turned out better that I didn’t get stitches because the cut closed up and I don’t even have a scar. But still, I hope we’re never in that position again!
ALL your food yesterday looks SO GOOD!
Wow – good thing it didn’t leave a scar Helen! š
Sorry for the technical problems in this post – I’ll fix them later today – but didn’t you all want to see two pictures of my dinner anyway??!! š
Health insurance- sighh. I hope they get things figured out quickly for y’all! I kind of love running in the rain š It feels so freeing! And I’m with Hannah- I’m a big fan of a little bit of everything. Those dinner potatoes look amazing. Have a good day