One of our tenants is hauling her ex to the clinic for smoker-related asthma and it brought something to mind which could save you money.

Last time I went to a walk-in clinic necessitated 3 breathing treatments, with their efficacy tested via hand-held spirometer.  When I got the bill, I was shocked--they charged me something like fifteen bucks for EACH use of the spirometer--once to diagnose airway constriction, 3 times after treatments. That was before the office visit and the treatments themselves.  I was out over $225 when I left.

Of course, you're supposed to test daily with that spirometer.  Take the spirometer with you if you're having to take the youngster in for emergency care.  It could save you many times its initial cost. 

as a grown up ayear in a half ago I quit smoking and have asthmatic today I forgot my inhaler due to allergies not like what the children really suffer from mine is due to smells and allergic to dust pullen and really perfmed frgarance air wic and perfume from heavey perfumes in them well one lady did we were 5 miles away from moms home I am the passenger no inhaler Im screwed hard to breath no extra if I had to buy yup had to do the test they charge you big time specially you get threw the door just to get the breathing the done in the er oh yes they do so the kids are stuck witch parents should not have to go what you had to go threw talk to the insurance about this see what excuse they use...good lord next thing they do is charge for the door opening at the er...

Somewhat off topic, but I have had allergic asthma for the past 25+ years.  I never had any problems as a kid, only started once I got married.  Recently (last Feb) I eliminated all dairy and avoid most wheat products and my asthma has improved 1000%.  I was on Advair twice a day, plus using the inhaler occassionally, too.  Since going off the dairy, I am completely off of Advair (haven't used any since Feb) and only use the inhaler occasionally, mostly when the weather is damp/humid, I'd say two or three times per month.  Just to prove it, I broke down last Friday night and ate cheese on a Reuben sandwich (wheat and dairy) and I have had two bad breathing days in a row where I've used the inhaler a lot.  Hopefully, today will be better.  I am back on the bandwagon for good, though.  Anyway, it was such a drastic change in how much medicine I was using, my pharmacy called me in Mid June to make sure that I still needed my prescriptions, since I hadn't refilled them in so long!   When trying to figure out why the asthma started when it did, I realized that because we grew up poor, I didn't drink milk or have cheese very often when I was younger.  When I got married, my husband drank milk by the gallon and loved cheese, butter, etc.  Naturally, as a new bride, I wanted to make meals that would appeal to him, so I started using a lot more dairy than I'd ever had before, but it never occurred to me that my asthma onset was related to that.  I used to joke that I was allergic to him, since I started showing symptoms the first week of our marriage.  Now, looking back, I think it was the sudden uptick in dairy intake that caused the problem.  I don't know if my reaction is typical, but, for anybody who has asthma, it might be worth a try to modify your diet and see if it has any effect.  Like cheapChic, I used to have severe reactions to perfume smells, etc. after the asthma started.  I took allergy shots for a year, which did help, but they didn't completely eliminate the problem, just made it more liveable.  Eliminating the dairy has made a much bigger difference in my symptoms.  Now, since I use the inhaler so infrequently, I sometimes forget to bring it because it isn't needed very often.  I need to be better about that, because you never know when a sudden attack might hit.