Health insurance/School Policy!

[megs4413]

Oh I am SOOOO frustrated! My Dh is a small business owner. We recently moved to Texas. When we lived in Missouri, we were insured (my children and I, my Dh was able to purchase private insurance) through the high risk pool that was established with the advent of Obamacare (i'm not using that term negatively! don't make it political!). Obviously, when we moved here we needed to switch to the Texas high risk pool. I wasn't concerned about switching...it was easy enough to figure out in Missouri. So i'm trying to get the paperwork done and figure stuff out and I find out it will cost us TWICE here what it costs in missouri. On top of that, the insurance isn't as good! YIKES! It was already as much as our mortgage payment (not kidding), so twice that just isn't livable for us. we have to figure something else out. in the meantime, we have left DD uninsured (she is the healthiest of us...they won't insure her because she's on daily meds for asthma. otherwise she would qualify for private insurance. darn it!) and have been taking her to an urgent care that has a membership program that gets you discounted sick visits, physicals, labs, etc. it's been working out fine in terms of keeping her healthy and managing the cost.

now the bitching part.....

DD is in public school for the first time ever this year, so i'm not sure if this is normal policy for every district or what, but if she's sick, she has to have a DOCTOR'S note to be excused. my calling her in does nothing except notify them that she's not gone missing. I cannot pay $70+ to get a note for her to be excused from school EVERY time she has the pukes or a fever. It's just not reasonable. If i wouldn't' have taken her in to the doctor for the illness without the attendance policy, why should I take her in just for the policy? What are low income+no insurance families doing with this rule??? Thankfully for us, if I need to take her in we can still afford it even without insurance, but I cannot justify spending this money just to give them a FLIPPING note! This policy seems so ridiculous and unfair. They sent us a very threatening letter about her attendance once already (any more than 3 days and you get a note in the mail) and after today (she's home sick again!) I am SURE I will be getting the next step up phone call from the principal to let me know we're in violation of the policy and DD is accumulating unexcused absences.

I swear it will be a miracle if we make it to the end of the school year at this school. I would pull her out today if it wouldn't break her heart.

VENT OVER!

[BabyBearsMom]

OMG that is crazy! What doctor has the time to see kids for every single low grade fever, pukes, sniffles etc.??? We aren't in real school yet so I can't say whether this is normal or not, but from a reasonable adult stand point it just seems crazy. If I got the phone call from the principal I would be giving him a piece of my mind!

[mytwosons]

That policy is insane and I have to wonder if it is intended to force lower SES students to attend other schools.

[megs4413]

That policy is insane and I have to wonder if it is intended to force lower SES students to attend other schools.

Oh Lord, I hadn't thought of that, but that sounds just about right for this area! YIKES! Our school is in a district that has a fairly widespread problem with illegal aliens (i'm in Texas). Our particular school doesn't have an issue, but the district does and it's a district wide policy. Now that you say it like that, I am SURE this is part of the issue.

What is the consequence for failing the policy? you have to withdraw the student and reregister if you want to reenter the school. if you have to reregister, you have to provide documentation about address/birth certificate/etc. hmmm...

[katydid1971]

FWIW I don't think it should be too big of an issue, she will just have some "unexcused absences" Most district have a policy if a student has too many (like more than a month of UNexcused absences). They might send a truancy officer out etc. So if she misses a week or so because she has the flu or whatever those really shouldn't be a problem. If you took her out of school for a week long family vacation it would also be an unexcused absence.

[wellyes]

Oh Lord, I hadn't thought of that, but that sounds just about right for this area! YIKES! Our school is in a district that has a fairly widespread problem with illegal aliens (i'm in Texas). Our particular school doesn't have an issue, but the district does and it's a district wide policy. Now that you say it like that, I am SURE this is part of the issue.

What is the consequence for failing the policy? you have to withdraw the student and reregister if you want to reenter the school. if you have to reregister, you have to provide documentation about address/birth certificate/etc. hmmm...

I gotta be honest, I had the opportunity to move to Texas for work last year and I turned it down due to Texas's reputation for this sort of political shenanigan. I would just get too mad. I'm sorry you're caught up in it.

[kristenk]

Wow! A doctor's note for every single day? That's crazy. DD's ISD (in Texas) policy is that absences of 3 days or longer should have a doctor's note. Shorter absences just need a parent's note.

That policy is ridiculous.

[fivi2]

Texas is pretty draconian when it comes to absences. However, I would ask the principal whether or not a signed note from you is sufficient. We have insurance but I don't go to the doc for every illness. I send in a note and that is that. Same with my sister in a different isd in the same metro (in Texas) .

Sorry!

[crl]

I'd be awfully tempted to send my puking kid to school.

Catherine

[crl]

Texas is pretty draconian when it comes to absences. However, I would ask the principal whether or not a signed note from you is sufficient. We have insurance but I don't go to the doc for every illness. I send in a note and that is that. Same with my sister in a different isd in the same metro (in Texas) .

Sorry!

Oh yeah, I do have to send in a note from me for my kid.

Catherine

[sste]

We have a friend that went through exactly what you describe in Texas - - her kids were uninsured for years due to pre-existing heart condition for one of them. It was awful! You need to figure out a way for someone to get private insurance in Texas as the state programs are not sufficient.

As for the school, tell them you are among the many working americans who cannot afford health insurance or the medical fees to obtain a doctor's note and you are requesting your DD visit the school nurse first thing in the AM on her return to school for the nurse to clear her. My hunch is they will back down from this . . .

[ahisma]

That's a ridiculous policy.

We are lucky in that we have health coverage for the kids, but even so, we don't take them to the doc for every illness nor am I willing to. DD just missed a week of school (first time ever) and even then we didn't need a doctor's note. Over-utilization of health care drives up the cost of insurance as well - which is exactly what this policy is doing. Given that you are in Texas, I suspect that there is another driving force...but still...it's beyond ridiculous.

DH teaches in an urban district with quite a few non-US citizen students and they definitely don't have this policy. Of course, we're in MI and have a laundry list of our own state problems, but not this one!

[Mermanaid]

You don't have to turn in a drs note for every absence. All a drs note gives you is an excused absence. But, your district should give you a specific number of excused AND unexcused absences every year (which I believe is determined by the state).

If there is an absence without a drs note you must send in a note from you that basically states "Jane was absent from school on DATE due to illness."

I've lived in Texas my whole life and now have a DD in the school system and it has always worked this way.

[kristenk]

Megs - what's the exact wording on the district's excused absence policy? Just comparing it to ours.

[Tondi G]

We have a friend that went through exactly what you describe in Texas - - her kids were uninsured for years due to pre-existing heart condition for one of them. It was awful! You need to figure out a way for someone to get private insurance in Texas as the state programs are not sufficient.

As for the school, tell them you are among the many working americans who cannot afford health insurance or the medical fees to obtain a doctor's note and you are requesting your DD visit the school nurse first thing in the AM on her return to school for the nurse to clear her. My hunch is they will back down from this . . .

I second this. Explain the situation that your DD is excluded from medical insurance coverage due to her "pre-exisiting condition, asthma" and that you can't afford to take her in to the urgent care just to get a note when she is home with a fever/virus. Would they rather you send her to school with an active viral infection so she can share her sickness with the rest of her class/school? Our district requires a not from a parent for a few days of illness ... after a week out I think they would like to see a doctors note.

[MommyofAmaya]

That is crazy. We are in a Texas district too and all I have to do is email the teacher with the reason she is out (sick = excused absence, going to the beach = unexcused).

I'm trying to get my head around how this sick-note policy is related to a high population of illegal immigrants though. Can somebody please explain that to me?

[Octobermommy]

Don't worry about it. Political issues aside, you have to attend at least 90% of days to be passed to the next grade & if you don't meet that then over 75% with certain grades/ Permission. She can miss a lot of days and still be fine.

They are doing it to scare people to be at school IMO. Don't worry!

[GvilleGirl]

The state has a similar rule here to make it an unexcused absence, but you can't be unexcused more than 5 times a year or 3 consecutive so you have some wiggle room.

I thought that children could not be denied health insurance for a pre-existing conditions, long term at least. Short term they could deny.

[wellyes]

I'm trying to get my head around how this sick-note policy is related to a high population of illegal immigrants though. Can somebody please explain that to me?I'll bite :)

It sounds like what they are doing is, after a certain # of "unexcused" absences, they are making parents provide a birth certificate & other documentation to re-enroll the child. Making poor or disenfranchised families "produce papers" in order to take part in basic civic life is one of the most deeply rooted racist practices in the US.

In theory, and for most of us, producing ID is not a big deal, just an annoyance. But history has shown that it has been used as a powerful tool of discrimination and fear-mongering. For example: there is a long, well documented history some states making citizens produce ID, pass literacy tests, pay poll taxes and other (often purely bogus) hoops to essentially make it impossible for black people to vote prior to the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The echo of it, of course, is in the whole 'make Obama show us his REAL birth certificate' nonsense movement. If your school district is doing something that brings to mind that nasty bit of history, that is not good.

[megs4413]

You don't have to turn in a drs note for every absence. All a drs note gives you is an excused absence. But, your district should give you a specific number of excused AND unexcused absences every year (which I believe is determined by the state).

If there is an absence without a drs note you must send in a note from you that basically states "Jane was absent from school on DATE due to illness."

I've lived in Texas my whole life and now have a DD in the school system and it has always worked this way.

I asked around about this today and apparently this is a DISTRICT policy. it's not a state policy, so this is specific to the district my DD attends. in addition, apparently, it's up to the principal of the individual school to decide how strictly they are going to enforce the district-wide policy.

my understanding is that the ONLY type of excused absence is medical and to obtain a medical excused absence you MUST submit IN WRITING something from a DOCTOR or DOCTOR'S office representative (like a nurse). i don't know what doc will just send you a form without seeing you (if there is one, i don't have him/her!), so in effect you MUST SEE a doctor to obtain an excused absence. that's all i'm saying. I don't really give a rat's behind what the school has to say about the absences considering I don't plan for even a second to send her there again next year.

ETA:
the nurse sent her home one day and that was unexcused. i think that's just ludicrous.

[megs4413]

I'll bite :)

It sounds like what they are doing is, after a certain # of "unexcused" absences, they are making parents provide a birth certificate & other documentation to re-enroll the child. Making poor or disenfranchised families "produce papers" in order to take part in basic civic life is one of the most deeply rooted racist practices in the US.

In theory, and for most of us, producing ID is not a big deal, just an annoyance. But history has shown that it has been used as a powerful tool of discrimination and fear-mongering. For example: there is a long, well documented history some states making citizens produce ID, pass literacy tests, pay poll taxes and other (often purely bogus) hoops to essentially make it impossible for black people to vote prior to the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The echo of it, of course, is in the whole 'make Obama show us his REAL birth certificate' nonsense movement. If your school district is doing something that brings to mind that nasty bit of history, that is not good.

this exactly! the number is 10 total (and this is excused plus unexcused...any combination of the two and partial days count! including tardies!) or 4 consecutive. i'm sure my DD will be absent at least a total of 10 days (or partial days) this year. dumb.

[jerigirl]

Wow! A doctor's note for every single day? That's crazy. DD's ISD (in Texas) policy is that absences of 3 days or longer should have a doctor's note. Shorter absences just need a parent's note.

That policy is ridiculous.

This is our ISD's policy as well.

[megs4413]

The state has a similar rule here to make it an unexcused absence, but you can't be unexcused more than 5 times a year or 3 consecutive so you have some wiggle room.

I thought that children could not be denied health insurance for a pre-existing conditions, long term at least. Short term they could deny.

you can't be absent more than 5 times a year without a doc's note??? i mean, is no one else seeing the ridiculousness of this policy? so if my kid is puking and unable to attend for two days in october, then gets a cold and is out for two days in December, then has a fever from some virus in may and is out two days, i'm in violation of an attendance policy? none of those illnesses requires a doctor's visit! why should I drag her into the doctor for stuff like that? i'm sorry it just seems crazy to me. this is why we're doing private school next year.

[mom2binsd]

THAT IS CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If I were in that district I'd be raising cane about this policy!

I have a 35.00 copay and there is no way it's necessary to take my children to the doctor each time they are sick, like others said, if we all did this health insurance would be even more insane!

We just call in to the attendance line and give a reason for the absence, if they are sick they ask that you let them know if the child has a fever greater than 101, cough, aches, runny nose (signs of the flu) so that they can give #'s to the local Health Dept. When the child returns to school no note is required.

IF a child is missing school for personal/family reason such as vacation etc we are asked to notify the school ahead of time. No work is given to take but even our principal says "they'll learn a lot on the vacation and have them write a journal about the trip".

I'm sure even the AAP doesn't endorse bringing in children with a lowgrade fever or an upset stomach.

I don't understand though why making folks re-enroll is an issue, I mean to enroll in the first time they have to provide documentation/birth certificate, so if they got in once you can get in again.

[MissyAg94]

I'm really not understanding how this is racist. You have to produce documents to initially register for school. If you produced those on registration day, then why can't you produce them when you re-enroll? I know border schools with very strict attendance policies. I don't think those districts are trying to get rid of the minority kids considering that would be pretty much all of their students.

Texas funds it's districts according to attendance numbers. Money is likely what is driving your district's policy. And if you are in an affluent area, this is probably in place to prevent family vacations being taken during school terms. I would take her to the doctor when you feel it's necessary and keep her home without taking her when you feels it's necessary. Talk to the principal.

P.S. Many of the children of illegal immigrants in Texas are citizens and are on Medicaid so getting a doctor's note for them is actually quite easy.

[doberbrat]

wow way to get the entire medical system come to a crashing halt.

Forcing ins (and families) to pay for unneeded visits.
Forcing drs offices to see patients for an administrative rather than medical reason.


I'd be awfully tempted to send my puking kid to school.

Catherine

I'm with Catherine ......

[GvilleGirl]

Sending a child home from school AND then needing a note is crazy!

Luckily I haven't had to deal with this yet so I am not sure how flexible they are. But this is what I am getting...

If your child misses 3 consecutive days of school or 5 cumulative days of school without a lawful absence, you will be required to attend a Student Attendance Intervention Conference. Student absences, either excused or unexcused, except with doctor notes, may not total more than TEN (10) DAYS during the school year. Any absence above ten (10) days may result in the student repeating his/her grade, or there may be legal consequences for the parent. Parents of students who miss more than 10 days without a doctor’s note will be referred to Family Court for Educational Neglect. Any absence after 10 must be a doctor’s note, parent notes will not be accepted unless approved by the principal.

As a former teacher I get the value of education. And since I was raised by teachers I never missed a day except for when I was sick. But I value family time and understand that parents work and possible vacation times do not always conform to school vacation time.

I do know that when I had to pick up my younger brother from HS here, I had lug my 4m and 22m old into the office and sign him out. I think that is crazy for a 16yo with a note that I have to sign him out. Though my experience might have been weird growing up, upperclassman had an open campus, there were free periods and you were free to go when you finished all your classes. There is none of that here.

[kijip]

now the bitching part.....

DD is in public school for the first time ever this year, so i'm not sure if this is normal policy for every district or what, but if she's sick, she has to have a DOCTOR'S note to be excused. my calling her in does nothing except notify them that she's not gone missing. I cannot pay $70+ to get a note for her to be excused from school EVERY time she has the pukes or a fever. It's just not reasonable. If i wouldn't' have taken her in to the doctor for the illness without the attendance policy, why should I take her in just for the policy? What are low income+no insurance families doing with this rule??? Thankfully for us, if I need to take her in we can still afford it even without insurance, but I cannot justify spending this money just to give them a FLIPPING note! This policy seems so ridiculous and unfair. They sent us a very threatening letter about her attendance once already (any more than 3 days and you get a note in the mail) and after today (she's home sick again!) I am SURE I will be getting the next step up phone call from the principal to let me know we're in violation of the policy and DD is accumulating unexcused absences.

I swear it will be a miracle if we make it to the end of the school year at this school. I would pull her out today if it wouldn't break her heart.

VENT OVER!

OMG, I totally hear you on this one. So annoying.

Here is my similar tale: When T was 4 we made the decision for J to quit work and go to school for 1 year before getting new employment using the new skills. Working at a non-profit as the only employee, I did not have access to health insurance. We made too much for Medicaid or SCHIP. So, I bought a high deductible policy for about $85/month to cover the worst case scenarios (kicked in after several thousand dollars OOP) and budgeted to pay out of pocket for routine and preventative care.

The preschool teacher was convinced that every time he had a slight bloodshot eye that he had pinkeye and they had the same policy. Well, dude did not EVER actually have pinkeye. He just got a little sand in his eye and rubbed it or whatnot. After paying $110 for a note saying he did not have pinkeye, and then having them call me with the same bogus suspected pinkeye I made it abundantly clear that in the absence of any of the signs of pinkeye I would not be taking him back to the ped (who must have thought I was insane to make an appointment for this in the first place) and paying $110. The teacher said that she had NEVER seen anyone with bloodshot eyes before and that it must be pinkeye. Um, no. Thankfully, J got a job with medical benefits for PT workers right after he was done with the first year of school so we were only without comprehensive insurance for about 11 months.

[KrisM]

That's crazy! We have medical insurance and I still wouldn't take my kids there for everything. We'd have to pay 100% out of pocket too, so being insured doesn't help things at all in my case. Let's see. If all my kids get sick with the same thing and miss a day of school...that's $240 in sick visits for me before they can go back? Yeah, I don't think so.

[Kungjo]

Wow! That's crazy. We're in Texas and the school attendance clerk told me that if DDs are out for being sick, a note from me would suffice. It doesn't even have to be a doctor's note to get an excused absence.

[mommytoC]

FWIW I don't think it should be too big of an issue, she will just have some "unexcused absences" Most district have a policy if a student has too many...UNexcused absences)...they might send a truancy officer out etc. So if she misses a week or so because she has the flu or whatever those really shouldn't be a problem. If you took her out of school for a week long family vacation it would also be an unexcused absence.

:yeahthat:

Both my daughter's school district, and my own as a child (in another state), have/had identical policies to yours, allowing up to 10 absences per year. If either of us were ill enough to require a doctor's visit, the absence was excused; otherwise, it was unexcused. In these districts, children could have additional excused absences, and could pass their grade as long as they attended ___ days of school per year (with ___ being the number of days required by the state). Likely, this applies to your district as well, but of course, you'll need to find out.

Re: the separate issue of establishing primary care for your daughter, I wonder if a community health center would be an option:
background: http://www.wearetheuninsured.org/resources/community-health.html
locations in Texas: http://www.tachc.org/find-healthcare-center

My first "real job" out of residency was working as a pediatrician at one of these centers, and I was very impressed with the care they provided.

[o_mom]

I asked around about this today and apparently this is a DISTRICT policy. it's not a state policy, so this is specific to the district my DD attends. in addition, apparently, it's up to the principal of the individual school to decide how strictly they are going to enforce the district-wide policy.

my understanding is that the ONLY type of excused absence is medical and to obtain a medical excused absence you MUST submit IN WRITING something from a DOCTOR or DOCTOR'S office representative (like a nurse). i don't know what doc will just send you a form without seeing you (if there is one, i don't have him/her!), so in effect you MUST SEE a doctor to obtain an excused absence. that's all i'm saying. I don't really give a rat's behind what the school has to say about the absences considering I don't plan for even a second to send her there again next year.

ETA:
the nurse sent her home one day and that was unexcused. i think that's just ludicrous.


All the idiotic policy stuff aside (ours is bad, but not that bad)... I have found that the peds in the districts like this are pretty flexible - they roll their eyes just as much about it. Many here will document if you just call in and then write a note for the school if you need it later. They don't want to see kids for every sniffle or stomach bug. Ours is similar - they will chart every call and said that if push comes to shove, they will write us a note.

Our district has a policy where vacation or illness without a doctor's note are 'excused', but not really excused... after 7 they have a meeting with parents, after 10 they 'require' a doctor's note for all absences. After 12 days, they refer you to the prosecutor.