The Cost of Anaphylaxis

This happened several months ago, but I had an anaphylactic reaction to a food provided by a friend. During the reaction, I lost consciousness and ended up in the hospital. The reason I'm writing about it now is that I saw something on Pinterest about the cost of raising an allergic child. All of the specialized food and accommodations add up, but so do the doctor/allergist appointments, EpiPens, and other financial consequences of each anaphylactic episode. This doesn't include the time my parents had to take off of work to take care of me or other secondary expenses, but is a good example of the cost of anaphylaxis.

ER Bill including observation period, IV (with antihistamines and steroids), EKG, urine tests, blood tests, etc.
   $3,800
   -3,500  (insurance)
      $300

Prednisone, Benadryl, and anti-nausea meds
   $50
   -20  (insurance)
   $30

Auvi-Q 2 pack
   $564
   -564  (insurance plus zero copay card)
   $   0


Luckily, with insurance and zero copay for my replacement Auvi-Qs, it was only around $330 total. But, it could have been close to $4,400 without insurance! This usually isn't a budgeted expense, so it would have had to come out of savings, a heavy burden for many families. If you aren't an allergy parent, keep this in mind next time you hear that allergy parents make up their kids' issues because they just want attention. For five hours and $4,400, they could get a lot more attention than we got from the doctor.