Is there a doctor in the house?
(Imagine this as an adventure movie
mixed with a dark comedy)
First let me say, back in 2000 I lost my
sense of smell. I couldn't smell the good(flowers, bread baking)or
the bad(insert your own joke). This was when I first encountered
'doctors not accepting patients'/'doctors not accepting new
patients'(believe it or not there is a difference. 'doctors not
accepting patients' means even if you are a patient of theirs they're
not going to see you...'not accepting new patients' means if you are
their patient they'll might see you). Eventually, I found a doctor
but when I lost my health insurance in 2001, I lost my doctor. The
person who answered the phone said “call us when you get insurance”
and promptly hung up.(I will never, ever forget this because it
struck me as callous... this is a recurring theme).
(This lasted for years because because I gave up looking for a
doctor. I now have a sense of smell and I'd like to thank whoever
decided to place my meds over the counter).When I developed a cough around 2014-2015, I thought I had a really bad cold. But when I started gasping for air, coughing and couldn't walk more than 10 feet without getting winded, I knew I now needed a doctor.
This is my small sample of what happened during my search for a doctor-
Doctors that still have a website but are now 'out of business'(?) Or never update their websites with new info such as current phone numbers.
After getting an accurate phone
number and going through the usual voicemail BS. “please press 1
for English”(Grrrr) I came up with a series of questions when I
finally got a human(if I got one). Most should be Yes/No questions,
at least in my mind, but I quickly found out that there were gray
areas...
1– Are you accepting new
patients?
This was more complicated than I
expected, here is the short list of what happen(I only wish I had
thought to recorded this...)
--We were accepting
patients(not helpful...SMH)
--Foreign/non-English and Native English
speakers who answer a phone like you've inconvenienced them or have
'marbles in their mouth'(why for the love all that is holy would you
give them a job answering a phone, especially dealing with sick
people...this one particularly irks me because I have applied for
similar jobs but have not been hired. I guess my English is too clear
and I have command of the language or other reasons, perhaps a future
blog).
--The idiots(that is the nicest term)
who place you on hold only to “forget you”/accidentally hang up.
I started to refer to this as purgatory.(yes, you can call back but
usually you visit purgatory again or they ignore the phone, I started
to assume they have caller ID and are now avoiding the call)
--I had one receptionist ask did I know
any other patients or have a family member already with them(see next
question)
More than once I got a yes...
Which made my heart skip a beat...
Which leads to my next question...
2– Do you accept patients without
insurance?
You would think I threw water on the
Wicked Witch or showed Dracula the sun...
Mostly, I was told NO and once again I
was asked 'did I have friends or family already with them'.(which
left me scratching my head...why would this matter...does that mean
they only accept friends and family members?)(no, I did not ask my
air was limited and I really didn't think about this until I hung
up).
What in the world did people do before health insurance?
Only asked these two twice:
How much is an office visit?Do you accept credit cards?
Some medical professionals(this means
doctors, nurses and everyone who works in the office) seem to have no
concept of money and actually paying for a service. (I'm looking for
a ballpark figure between $1 and $10,000 with nothing written in
stone...) This concept so confused one receptionist(?) she had to
ask...she placed me on hold, once again purgatory.
I miss the days of doctors accepting
patients and a doctor's office asking what is the problem, not 'what
insurance do you have'? What good is insurance if you can't see a
doctor! The worst feeling in the world is to be sick and not be able
to get a doctor.(I know, go to the ER but I don't have a couple of
thousand burning a hole in my pocket...I had a friend who was charged
just about $1000 an hour...so, that was NOT an option).
I believe I've said this before, but it
bears repeating;
I am grateful that I am able to get better/easier
healthcare for my cat.
I was originally going to sing the praises of my veterinarian here
but I decided it would be better to not associate them in any way
with the current human healthcare crisis.
When I finally reached the end of my
rope I found an “emergency clinic” one of those “urgent care”
places, they said they could treat and continue
treatment(Grrrr...hint).(they were OK and if I'm bleeding and I don’t
want to go to an ER, I will use them). They were accepting patients
and money(their fee was reasonable, they knew prices and accepted
credit cards/checks/cash).
I was “diagnosed” as having
bronchitis and possibly asthma. I left with a nebulizer and
prescriptions, if you follow my twitter you heard about the lovely
antibiotic(imagine swallowing molten glass to stop a piranha from
eating your stomach). My other problems were they couldn't find my
blood oxygen with the meter so they wanted me to go to the ER(SMH not
a SOLUTION).(I later learned from Dr Google if your hands are real
cold, which mine usually are, they won't be able to use an oximeter
correctly. Gee, just what I said but OF COURSE, I have no formal
training just COMMONSENSE and Dr Google) and they couldn't continue
treatment but they could get me well for, about two weeks). So, I
curled up in a ball calling doctors once again hearing “we are not
accepting patients” for the next month.
Finally, I saw an ad in a local magazine
for a doctor and she listed an email(which was odd) and phone(which
usually rings endlessly and drops to voicemail...sigh) For some
reason, I tried email. Literally, I sent a three question email:
Are you accepting new patients?
Do you accept patients without
insurance?
Do you accept credit cards?
The answer was YES to all three?
My next step was the phone, so I left a
message and I got an appointment. YAAA!(see below for an update)
I had developed Asthma. It was great to
finally have a diagnosis and a doctor. I guess I'm not the only
person who was looking for a doctor because there were other people
filling out new patient forms. (which is the reason I'm writing this
post, to give others hope and maybe a laugh at time when it is sorely
needed...unless it causes coughing or other...shall we
say...problems, wink/wink...in which case, don't laugh, silently
chuckle...)
BUT(there always is a but) one of my
meds costs... get ready for it...costs between $241 & $271 a
month(don't ask me it goes up and down...there will be a future blog
about medicine) and I had a billing screw up.(the receptionist
undercharged me. When it was all entered into the computer, I owed
$40. Whoever made up the bill didn't apply previous payments so I got
a huge bill.) Too bad they don’t have a list of charges or some
sort of hard copy. Oh, yeah that would require them to use paper!
The one thing that shocked me was how everything is all done
through a computer, your temperature, blood pressure, oximeter(blood
oxygen and pulse), weight, asthma test, the doctor even types into
the computer while talking to you(or should I say at you) and even
your prescription is no longer written it is sent via email. They
wanted my Social Security Number, my Mom's maiden name and my
email(so they could set up an account on their website...uh,no. I
don’t care if my blood pressure, height, weight, and other test
stuff is stolen but when you get into more sensitive stuff that isn't
necessary for breathing, I'm a little leery.)Tune in tomorrow for my 2017 update...(she says with a maniacal laugh)
See why I'm still proofreading...