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