Dear insurance company: please kindly suck it.

Today I spent wasted 40 minutes on the phone with my insurance company, who, for the most part, is good. We have great coverage and I rarely have problems. But when I do have problems, they go balls out and make it the worst experience of my life.

Take when Alex was born, for example. I don't remember blogging about it in detail, but as a synopsis--we continued to get bills from the hospital over a year after he was born. I fought every single one tooth and nail, because what they were asking me to pay for was fully covered in my plan. I won.

Take when Joey got his shoulder surgery. Same story, though the timing was a little closer to the actual event. I won that one, too.

Or take when Alex went for his 2 year checkup and insurance billed me for his immunizations--which, SHOCKER--are covered 100%. I was victorious in this scenario, as well, obviously.

And then, today, when I got my FIFTH bill for my annual girly bits appointment--a fully covered visit--and I completely lost my beans and went bananas on the incompetent customer service representative. And her supervisor. And her supervisor. No one should have to call FIVE times over the course of three months to have something so simple resolved. I'm a one and done kind of girl. For the record, I won this one, too.

The moral of the story is to know your insurance plan like the crack of your baby's behind. It's your money - be smart about it! Know what's covered, what's not. What your deductible is. What your max out of pocket is. Otherwise, you're going to get screwed...and it's not if, it's when. If I just shrugged my shoulders and stupidly paid every bill that came my way we'd probably be out $10,000+ over the course of the last 4 years...and I'm not kidding. That's like a super nice vacation.

Speaking of which...Joey? I would like to go on vacation. I think I've earned it.