American ??? day 21

11,371 steps 

We're sitting on our front porch watching a rainstorm. It's the first rain we've had since we've been back. A long time for the green midwest. The mosquitoes won't let us stay long. I just saw a bat swoop past and an owl glide up into a nearby tree. 

Today's excitement: catching a bat that had roosted outside Ivy's bedroom. It was sleepy--like teenager at 6 am sleepy--and didn't want to move even when I released it from the towel. It finally took off and settled on our front porch. I guess flying back to its home was too much trouble for this sleepy bat. It stayed on our porch all day (we kept checking) and finally woke up and went out for dinner this evening. 

We tested Ivy locally this afternoon. With our university campus dealing with covid-19 cases, we wanted to be sure we're not contributing to the problem. Ivy was worried about having the swab stuck far up her nose, but they use a newer testing method that only involves swabbing inside each nostril. Over and done quickly with us still in the car. "It didn't hurt! It actually felt kind of good," she said. 

I spent a long time on the phone today trying to find which covid-19 testing place charged my insurance the least. You know, trying to be a fiscally responsible citizen and all that. I couldn't get any good estimates on cost. 

The local hospital said it was $375 if you're coming in without insurance, but it would be a different cost with insurance (but they couldn't say how much until after we took the test). 

The other local testing place, an urgent care clinic, charges around $130 for the test if you aren't insured. But again, they couldn't say the price with insurance. They contract with LabCorp, so I called the lab and asked how much the test would be. And they couldn't tell me because it depended on which insurance company you have. I asked, "If I tell you which insurance company I have, can you tell me the price?" Sorry, no. They cannot. 

Then there was a "free" testing place 30 miles away that does tests for free. But if you have insurance, they will bill your insurance an unspecified amount. Keep in mind--my insurance covers covid-19 testing at 100% right now. We are lucky. I was just trying to save my insurance company some money. And I couldn't even do that!