Our Silverlining is on Oahu - Update at 12 weeks - Medical Care (rent)

[aloha_silverlining]

Aloha all,

Celebrating our 31st Anniversary today, we spent our honeymoon in Oahu and Maui, who would have thought that we would actually end up living here? DH married a child bride, haha.

Living on a budget has been much easier for us here than our life in CA, yes we gave up square footage and the second car, but the weather and peace and quiet out here, plus the view from the condo - make up for all that "stuff".

Well, like any where, life's sh_t can/will happen regardless where you are.

Had my first dealing with the medical community...Started with just a small SPIDER bite. Saturday evening: noticed bite on thigh, swelled to quarter size red spot, just itched a lot. Sunday: golf ball size redding, kind of hot to the touch, still itching like crazy. Monday at Kapolei's Target Pharmacy: "Gee, do you have something for this bite?", "Why don't you show it to me....Oh my, you need to go to a doctor now!" The area was larger than a baseball. UGH! She referred me to the Medical Corner in Kapolei. Off we went.

As a walk-in, I waited about one hour (not too bad considering in CA that's your average wait with your regular doctor with an appointment ) The nurse practitioner Thran was just wonderful even after telling me that it was cellulitis from the spider bite. Thran spent a good 40 minutes with me, which is amazing, one is lucking if you get 10 minutes with a specialist in CA. One tetanus shot, two mega doses of anti-biotics, blood and urine lab work and the drum roll as to what this would cost me since the DH's VA hasn't approved/processed my health insurance yet.

She made me aware that the clinic's doctor has a program for the uninsured. $100 per year includes one annual check-up then a co-pay of $40 (my United co-pay had risen to $30 over the last few years). 50% or more off other services, some fees are waived all together. Great deal as I have Fibro and RA and need to visit doctors at least every three months.

Instead of paying $89 each visit, $75 for tetanus med, $35 shot service fee for a total of $199, went for the $140. The lab work was 50% off so ended up being $113. Looked at my passed annual visit CA lab bills, $226 is about what they would have billed my United Healthcare.

The NP spent another 20 minutes on her computer looking up generics of the two anti-biotics I needed. Allergies to two major ingredients, made that tough. But Thran found them for me, plus I needed renewals for my regular meds, she also researched those as many were written up as "brand names" by CA docs. Two of these changes made my $267 Topomax go down to $5 (Left that one at the Kapolei Target Pharm last month), $68 to $10.

I was on a waiting list to see a FP at the Queen's location but cancelled that since I really liked the NP and the other staff members who gave me shots, weigh-in, etc. Can't ask for a more caring NP as Thran. I'll use my Annual check-up sometime in the future, but at least I know I have a great place to go for routine medical care.

The bite site is almost healed, had to stay out of the sun with the meds, that's over now... so late afternoon we'll be heading to the beach, find a place to have dinner by the water, and enjoy a great time together in Paradise. Let's hope for another 30, I'm hoping to live at least 'till 80!

[Kailasmom]

Oh, my goodness, Ruby! You've been so on my mind, will drop you a 'real' note too, but for here, for now, for this info, thank you for sharing the details!
You are such a clever gal, seems like this has turned out to be a blessing in disguise, so now you know how your med stuff may be best handled for a while.
Do take care - see you soon!
A

[Kailasmom]

Is this where you went?

Kapolei Family Medical Center Inc.
599 Farrington Hwy Ste 100
Kapolei, HI 96707
(808) 674-2930

[Woody7]

Another + story about Hawaii, thanks !

[aloha_silverlining]

Originally Posted by Kailasmom

Is this where you went?

Kapolei Family Medical Center Inc.
599 Farrington Hwy Ste 100
Kapolei, HI 96707
(808) 674-2930

No it was the Medical Corner · Website · (808) 676-5000
890 Kamokila Blvd Ste 102 · Kapolei

LOL, had to put on my glasses to double check, turns out I spelled the NP wrong, oops! Folks ask for Trang Lafitaga, she just great!

[aloha_silverlining]

Mahalo KailasMom (Allison) and Woody!

I know that many folks are worried about Medical care and cost. Especially after I had to give up the Cobra payments of $1450 for DH and I. At least I don't have to stress now while the VA does their thing.

[whynot?]

Looking forward, healthcare is one of our biggest concerns about living on Maui. We're doing everything we can to stay healthy, and neither of us has any chronic conditions, but we're also aware that 1) we're really lucky (so far), 2) we're a long way from state-of-the-art-care in any emergency, and 3) we're (in our 50s/60s) making a bet every day.

An acquaintance recently suffered a brown recluse spider bite. This is kind of a "small" thing, but kind of a potential problem. While we don't have poisonous snakes, and many other mainland threats, we *do* have an array of health challenges besides obesity, heart disease, diabetes, etc.

Really glad you found good treatment quickly, and your case only underscores our responsibility to eat healthily, exercise, and deal with any unusual health situations quickly (and with an open mind). We love hearing positive moving stories about transition and creativity.

Best of luck.

[aloha_silverlining]

Aloha WhyNot,

Mahalo for your post. Because of the medical situation on Maui, we settled on Oahu.

The main reason to share the "small" story is indirect find of a medical clinic/doctor who offers a reasonable solution to those without insurance. I've read so many horror stories on this board in the last 9 months. $40 co-pay for medical care is very reasonable and affordable.

Now I'll probably get slapped around on here for saying affordable. But before those folks start writing, I hope they keep quiet if they drink alot or smoke or do drugs. If they do any of those or a combo thereof, they can afford the $40 bucks.

So far we're luckily finding that the financial "high" costs are less for our family since we came from LA county.

Do share some of your Maui stories, especially if different from what you've read on any of the forums.

Kind regards, Ruby

[AlohaAndi]

Aloha Ruby,

I enjoy your posts so much! My husband and I just got back from visiting Oahu and Kaua'i for nearly 2 weeks (our stay was extended a few extra days due to Hurricane Irene back home) I can't stop crying back here. Everything is fine, our place is safe and we are OK, but the depression from coming home to NJ with rude people and the humidity and the lack of beauty are a huge hit. The people in Hawaii are generally friendlier than back here. Shoot, even the rude people in Hawaii are friendlier than the nice people here. My fibro pains were sooooo much less while we were visiting. The weather was perfect..NO humidity and just amazing. The air quality was a huge change, I never wheezed or had trouble taking in air at all! We did try to schedule an interview for my husband while we were in Oahu, but because of the slower pace, there was just no time to get it scheduled and my husband is not nearly as agressive as I am, so he didn't work as hard as he should have to get interviews lined up while we were there. (Even though I requested months before that he did) Now that we are home I'm hoping it's not impossible to interview via skype or phone and get something lined up so we can get back out there for good. Can you tell I'm desperate? I liked Kaua'i better, but the medical is much better on Oahu and so are the jobs, so that is where we'd go. I happen to get sick while we were there (day we were leaving actually) with an awful sore throat and went to a medical corner as well. The doctor was SO nice I can't stress how nice he was. I told him about my fibromyalgia and he sat and took care of me and even asked me to please call him in a few hours if things got worse and asked me to call him when I got home to see how I was feeling. He even pushed us to move there seeing how sad I was to go home. He told me since my husband was in banking, he would have an easy time getting a job there. In fact, everywhere we went (including a bank) everyone said it would be easy to get a job in Oahu. So I am shocked with the people on here who say differently. My guess is they don't want more people moving to their beautiful island and grabbing jobs or trying to move there and slack off and live off the government or streets, etc. We're not interested in that. We're not looking to cut work to go surf (we don't surf LOL) We're looking to work hard and enjoy a better place with better people and enjoy our weekends on a beach.

Anyhow, keep up the good posts. I for one love reading them!! BTW--we found the rent comparable to NJ. We did find the traffic to be a pain as well as I'm sure the commute. As well as tourist trappy places and Waikiki being the most expensive. Hopefully we can work it out to work and live farther away from Waikiki as possible.

Maholo...my heart is really missing Hawaii right now. I pray I can get back there ASAP for good.

[aloha_silverlining]

Aloha Andi,

Glad you enjoy my postings. One of my other cyber friends likes the financial clarifications as cost is relevant to where you're coming from.

Sorry to hear that you're sad and that your Fibro is worse in NJ. Big temperature changes from one day to another do me in. Went to Boca in July some years back, my Fibro didn't like the humidity at all. Same with San Antonio, beautiful city but not between June and Aug.

Being that your DH is in banking, I would think it would be to hard to find a decent job downtown. I see different financial/banking jobs on a regular basis on various boards. Think you guys need to discuss whether you're BOTH ready to commit to a Pros/Cons review and game plan.

Agree with the doctor that you would most likely do much better here on Oahu, you will want to stay away from areas that get a lot of rain. The nerves and muscles don't like that much. Glad to hear that the other Medical Corners also have great doctors. I try not to see them more than 4 times a year!

Now...your depression, you need to see if your meds cocktail needs to be adjusted. They originally had me on the 13 prescription course, but I worked my way down to 2, now back to 4 after the last 2 1/2 years of stress in our lives. Hoping to get it back down to 2 in the next three months, now that we're here. You need your mental strenghth to work through that P&C list.

Keep me posted as you do your evaluation.

Aloha, Ruby