Where to Take a Sick Infant Without Insurance

I'd start with the regular ped. They will probably give you a decent rate for "cash" payment and they know her.

My husband just started a new job so we don't have insurance at the moment. The doctor's office our kids go to told us about the Jefferson Independence Card which is free to sign up and it gives discounts . http://jeffersonicard.com/
Our son had an ear infection and we only had to pay $65 instead of the regular over $100. If you go on their website it says what doctors use it. I hope your daughter feels better soon!
S.

Is there a Childrens Hospital where you are at? You could go there. When I had to take my son, we didn't have enough money to pay the bill because my husband was unemployed. They sent us paperwork to fill out so we could explain our situation and they covered everything for us. I hope your daughter is feeling better.

Most Drs. will give you a discounted cash rate if they know you don't have insurance. Also, if you need an Rx, don't hesitate to ask for samples they may have at the office instead of making you pay for one at the pharmacy. The Drs. are given the free samples for a reason. Use them.

Could you just call your pediatrician and speak to one of the nurses? This is what I would do... and normally they will give guidance which rarely includes coming into the office. Especially for a fever... but if they are like our office, they will ask enough questions to try to determine if it COULD be something worse. See what they say, and go from there.

Contact your county health department. They have clinincs and well baby/child programs. They are free or charge on a sliding scale.

Hope you baby feels better soon.

Go to her regular Dr. or a Dr's office and just say you are in between insurance and you are a cash pay client.

Check out the Frisco Children's clinic. It's open I believe once a week and it's free.

I would call your doctor's office. Tell them that you don't have insurance right now but your daughter isn't feeling well. Give them her symptoms and if the doctor thinks she needs to be seen they will probably work with you since it is your normal pediatrician.

What is her temp? If it's not high (104 or higher), she's not listless, vomiting or having diarrhea then chances are they're not going to do anything for you. As long as she's eating and drinking, chances are, she's fine. Our pediatrician won't see kids for just a fever, unless it's 104 or higher and uncontrolled by medicine. They prefer that the child have the fever for more than 4 days as well.

Fevers aren't bad! They're good! They assure us that our body is working properly. Fevers are the way our body destroys all the icky stuff. If the fever isn't above 102 and she's acting normal, there's not even any need for medicine. Being tired is totally normal too. She might not want to eat or drink as much, but as long as she's drinking something and having wet diapers she's ok. Personally, I'd save the money and just keep an eye on her. If she starts vomiting continuously, then it's time to see someone. Most likely she's just caught a little bug and it fighting it off all on her own. Taking her to a clinic is going to expose her to tons and tons of sick germs.
Hope she's feeling better soon!

I know this may sound pushy but if you bring your child to the er and ask for quick care you should be able to file for the free care visit... they will not charge you anything that day at all... im not 100% sure how evreything works paper work wise but i do have a few friends that were in the same situation and they all have gone through this and we not charged for the visit. I hope your daughter gets well.

Hi,

I would take her to one of those urgent care clinics. I am not familiar with your area, but I would go there or call your pediatrician and see if they can do a phone consult with you---some do that for free and if after speaking with you thought she needed a prescription, order it over the phone. Best wishes!

M

How high is her temp? Any other symptoms? Is she eating and drinking fluids okay? Bless her.

Frisco Cares Clinic (www.friscocares.org) is a not-for-profit charitable clinic located in Frisco, and serving the surrounding communities. It is staffed with volunteer medical professionals (all of their docs practice in our area). Rates are low, and no one is turned away for lack of resources. Their phone number is: ###-###-####. Address: 6811 Oak Street, Frisco, 75034.

Wednesday evening is pediatric clinic.

I would call and ask your regular pediatrician what the cost would be without insurance. I know in my case, I have insurance (that doesn't cover these appt.'s until I reach my ridiculously high deductible...which never happens)... but I still get billed the full amount of the visit. If I didn't have insurance at all, I would get charged half of what the visit would be. I'm considering dropping my insurance as my premiums are high and I pay top dollar for services.... none of it makes sense! The fact that there are so many uninsured children in our country makes me sick... but that is a whole other story! (sorry for the rant).... Bottom line... you can probably get a good rate because you don't have insurance... just call your doctor and see.

With what's going around, the fevers in kids are getting higher than usual....but it's ok. The fever lets you know that her body is fighting it appropriately. Too high is 105.

Bacterium and viruses are temperostatic....meaning they only grow in a 1-2 degree range. So, let's say whatever your daughter is fighting grows at 101 really well, so her body has to get the temperature up to 102.5/103 to burn it off. Parents freak and to make THEM feel like they are doing something with medicate the kid with a fever reducer. BUT this fever reducer (Tylenol, etc) will only bring the fever down, ironically, 1-2 degrees, back in the range to allow the virus or bacterium to gorw out of control and your child will be sicker longer and fight it longer, since you just too away their innate way of fighting it.

I have 3 kids and another on the way, and none of them have ever had an antibitoic, (even for ear infections, which were gone in 2 days or less because of my actions and how I care for my children) or painkillers.

Boiron homeopathics, which you can find locally, you might want to try?

Pulsatilla works really well for infection and Ferrum Phosphoricum works well for fever, if you are worried.

Good luck.

PS For an accurate temp reading, never check in the afternoon, as children's temperatures get higher....even healthy ones!

Care Now has a medical discount plan. I think it's $95 to sign up and then $60 a visit or something to that effect. They essentially become your regular dr. It's great because you can do web check-in and they call you when they are ready for you.

Oh I forgot to tell you. Dallas and Tarrant County have presciption discount cards. They are free. Just sign up and present the card to pharmacy.

http://www.coast2coastrx.com/DallasTX/

http://www.tarrantcounty.com/ecommissioner/cwp/browse.asp...

I think CVS and Walgreens don't start seeing kids till they are 18 mos or 2 years old -- but I would check before taking her there. Does your county have a clinic? If she isn't sleeping well too, I would be afraid the fever might be the sign of an ear infection as well....so you should try to get her seen. Hospitals sometimes have care clinics but they aren't very cheap generally.

Good luck and hope that insurance kicks in soon!

I'd call your regular peditrician's office to see what an office visit would cost without insurance. I think Minute Clinic is like $85.00 for a visit.