My stepkid’s mom insists they pay their own medical bills to ‘learn responsibility’
Y’all wtf. My (F40s) stepdaughter ‘Ebony’ is 21, and has been dealing with some gnarly stomach bug the last few days. Yesterday it got bad enough that we took her to the ER, because she couldn’t even keep down water and she was getting severely dehydrated. They ran tests that didn’t find anything so the diagnosis is ‘bad stomach virus’. They got her iv fluids and that sweet, sweet hospital-grade anti nausea medication which got her feeling better and then sent us home with prescriptions for more meds. Because this is America, our copay was $300.
My husband sent Ebony’s mom a text letting her know how Ebony was doing and asking for $150 to cover half the bill. Side note Ebony lives with us full-time (her choice) and her mom doesn’t help pay for her tuition, her car, or almost any of her upkeep but she has generally chipped in for medical costs. This time she decided that she can’t contribute because Ebony needs to ‘learn a lesson about responsibility by paying for her own expenses.’
This is ridiculous for multiple reasons. First, Ebony is anything but irresponsible. She’s going to community college, works part-time, mows the lawn on her own initiative, picks her younger siblings up from school, and generally holds up her end of the housework better than most adult roommates I’ve had. She pays for gas, recreation, clothing, and textbooks on her own, as well as half her car note. This is not a kid who needs a tough life lesson about frivolous spending. Second, wtf do you mean she needs to pay for her own expenses? We’re her parents, she had to go to the hospital, she’s a full-time student with a retail job, and frankly, it’s only because we live in a late capitalist hellhole that she’s being charged hundreds of dollars to be treated for dehydration anyways.
It’s obviously a self-serving justification on Ebony’s mom’s part so she doesn’t have to pay for anything, but it still pisses me off. If you don’t have the money, just say so. Don’t come up with some weird pick-yourself-up-by-the-bootstraps crap. We’re not spoiling Ebony by ensuring that she receives needed medical care.