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Sorry to have been so out of touch. I've just fallen into one of the potholes of life, to put it mildly--the huge medical bill with no insurance pothole. And the irony is, I've spent so much effort and money all my life to have insurance for myself and my family.
My Buddhist group brought a monk over from India. Almost as soon as he got here, the monastery decided to recall him, and we didn't want to spend the huge amount for insurance if he wasn't going to stay. Very dumb move. He stayed--and the very next week had a perforated appendix, before the insurance went into effect. Surgery and four days in the hospital. As it was happening, we were so worried about his health and the horrible situation of being deperately ill in a country where you don't speak the language well (we felt like one of had to be there in the hospital 24/7), and really didn't get a chance to absorb the fact that our very tiny group is now $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ in debt to the mega-hospital. Now we're thinking about it.
But the very good news is that he's recovering well, but I worry that this terrible experience will make him want to go back to India. On the other hand, if he had returned earlier, they're in such a small village, he might not have gotten surgery in time, so maybe the upside of it all is that we saved his life. Which matters a lot more than the money.
And to complicate matters, we'd been planning to buy a house (to meet in and have the monk live in). Since we didn't quite have the down payment, my husband offered to buy it and rent it to us until we got the down payment together. Now, that will clearly be never, so he's stuck with this house. I'm not even sure we'll be able to pay the rent, so I guess as soon as it closes, we'll have to consider selling it. And it's such a cute little house, built in 1910, newly fixed up. The previous owner (ironically an ER doctor, but at a different hospital) had to put $30,000 into termite repairs, so there's no getting out of the deal. Sigh.
It's clear now that we should have just continued meditating in a room borrowed from the local UU's. Hindsight, it's wonderful (but probably most people would have seen this coming).
Lesson in not being attached to: monk, money, house, freedom from debt, you name it...
My Buddhist group brought a monk over from India. Almost as soon as he got here, the monastery decided to recall him, and we didn't want to spend the huge amount for insurance if he wasn't going to stay. Very dumb move. He stayed--and the very next week had a perforated appendix, before the insurance went into effect. Surgery and four days in the hospital. As it was happening, we were so worried about his health and the horrible situation of being deperately ill in a country where you don't speak the language well (we felt like one of had to be there in the hospital 24/7), and really didn't get a chance to absorb the fact that our very tiny group is now $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ in debt to the mega-hospital. Now we're thinking about it.
But the very good news is that he's recovering well, but I worry that this terrible experience will make him want to go back to India. On the other hand, if he had returned earlier, they're in such a small village, he might not have gotten surgery in time, so maybe the upside of it all is that we saved his life. Which matters a lot more than the money.
And to complicate matters, we'd been planning to buy a house (to meet in and have the monk live in). Since we didn't quite have the down payment, my husband offered to buy it and rent it to us until we got the down payment together. Now, that will clearly be never, so he's stuck with this house. I'm not even sure we'll be able to pay the rent, so I guess as soon as it closes, we'll have to consider selling it. And it's such a cute little house, built in 1910, newly fixed up. The previous owner (ironically an ER doctor, but at a different hospital) had to put $30,000 into termite repairs, so there's no getting out of the deal. Sigh.
It's clear now that we should have just continued meditating in a room borrowed from the local UU's. Hindsight, it's wonderful (but probably most people would have seen this coming).
Lesson in not being attached to: monk, money, house, freedom from debt, you name it...
