Albuquerque - The cost of health

[Note: this is a test of the email post option offered by blogger.com,
where you can send a post to your blog remotely via email without ever
having to surf the web. Textual blips and spacing issues may be rampant.
Take heed. Maybe wear sunglasses.]

I went to the student health center today to get some prescriptions and a
few vaccinations for the trip and manged to spend about $300.

On what, you ask? Well, let me tell you:

- Oral typhoid fever vaccination.
- Polio vaccination (just as a precautionary booster, since I already have
had this vaccination as a child)
- Doxycycline, a malarial prophylactic (taken during potential exposure and
for a period afterwards; also makes a damn fine antibiotic for upper
respiratory illnesses - - multipurpose, how useful!)
- Ciprofloxacin, an antibiotic for serious "travelers' diarrhea"
- Metronidazole, for treatment if exposed to (and infected by) Giardia
- Tylenol 3, which is a coctail of codeine and acetaminophen ("It's for the
pain, Doc, it's for the pain")

I am only taking one credit hour this semester to maintain student status
(email, healthcare, nifty student ID card, prestige and fame, etc.) and
also because as a graduate student it is required by the university to take
at least one thesis hour per semester until you graduate (they make you pay
for it before you graduate if you skip a semester!). That one credit does
not get me fabulous student health insurance, however, so the price of the
meds and visits to the health center goes up.

Speaking of insurance, I spent another $270 on a comprehensive
international health care insurance package today as well. I found this at
a great website called InsureMyTrip (http://www.insuremytrip.com), which
creates a great chart of about 60 insurance providers, what you get for
your cost and so on.

The package I got covers medical evacuation from another country, lost
luggage, trip cancellation and a variety of other grim but nescessary
details (Tracy, you get a giant wad of cash should my airplane lawn-dart or
whatever). Very standard travel insurance, no bells or whistles.

Skip past this next part to the "###" unless you are masochist for details
- - for those of you who are interested, the details of such said insurance
package and contact information for the provider are thus:

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Policy Information:
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Company: MultiNational Underwriters
Plan Name: Atlas International
Premium: $270.86

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Coverage Information (per person)
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Trip Cancellation: $0
Trip Interruption: $5,000
Travel Baggage: $250
Baggage Delay: $0
Travel Delay: $0
Accidental Death: $25,000
Medical: $100,000
Dental: $100
Emergency Evacuation: $100,000
Flight Insurance: $50,000
Deductible: $500
Sports Rider: Included
Incidental Home Country Rider: Included
Beneficiary: Tracy Otis Ashby-Wagner

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Insurance Company Information:
--------------------------------------------------------------------

MultiNational Underwriters
107 S. Pennsylvania Street, Suite 402
Indianapolis, IN 46204 USA

(800) 605-2282 - 24 Hour Emergency Assistance and Claims
(317) 262-2132 - If overseas, call collect

Coverage is underwritten by Lloyds of London, London, UK.

###

My medical kit also arrived today. That is another $100. There are also a
few more things (read: more $) to pick up to fill it out, such as Immodium,
TUMS, Pepto, band-aids. A very small nurse. Perhaps a portable x-ray
machine. Maybe the kitchen sink.

Whew.

So, all said and done, the medical expenses for a six-month stay in SE Asia
is rounding out to between $600-$700.

I'm sure I will look back in future Asian trips and realize where some
costs could have been saved however, "that's how it is" this time around.

Mom, I'm sure you feel much better reading all this.

The rest of you, if the trip is medically uneventful, you can have some
Tylenol-3 to celebrate when I return. (As an aside, interestingly enough
the painkillers were the cheapest prescription to fill. Much could be said
on that.)

I think I'm going to take a few Tylenol-3 now just for the pain of so much
money being relieved from me in a 24-hour period.