I'm usually a passive person, I tend to keep my emotions safely locked inside, but it's times like this when I have reached my limit. I think we all know the health care system in this country could use some work. I experienced a bit of it 20 years ago when I had back surgery, but fast forward to today and it hasn't seem to have gotten any better.
We left the doctor's office at 9am Wednesday morning with them assuring us they would be calling for the authorization for the epidural treatment and physical therapy. Wednesday passed, Thursday arrived and we thought we would hear something. By noon I was calling and finding myself with only an answering machine to talk to. By 3pm I was calling again and getting the same answering machine and leaving the same inquiring message as to the status of the authorization. At 4:30 we finally get a callback. Lots of excuses, the person who does the calling was off Wednesday, they were shorthanded on Thursday, but with the assurance that first thing Friday morning the calls would be made.
Friday comes, we wait for the phone to ring, and wait and wait. I call at 3pm and once again get the answering machine. Leave a stern message and receive a phone call back a little over an hour later. From what I can get her to admit, she had just called to get the authorization and had to leave a message. I told her that the insurance people leave at 4pm, so no one would get the message until Monday morning. Thanks for all your help......NOT. I place a quick phone call to our insurance contact person, leaving a message telling her that we desperately need this treatment to get Craig back to being pain free and please call us Monday morning.
At this point I can no longer take watching my husband be in the pain he is in when the muscles spasm and the nerve pain shoots through his body. It is taking a toll on me and my well being. I'm exhausted and we are now heading into our fourth week of dealing with this with no long term relief from the pain. I now officially declare war on the system that has let us down so many times during the past weeks. I will be calling the insurance people in Washington Monday, and will continue to call until we hear something. If need be, I will park my butt in the doctor's office until they do something. At this point, I don't care if every cent we own is used and we go into bankruptcy I will find a doctor and pay for treatment myself.
THIS IS WAR!
3 comments:
Long comment and you can just read it and not post it...I used to work with a group and was the liason nurse for the auth's. For every dollar a doc spends of the insurance money he is penalized. Period. He is encouraged to write scripts and hope you both go away. That you had the CT scan and the MRI was amazing. It will now drag out unless you do exactly what you say you will. PT is going to cost...oh maybe 100/session. The injections depending on where they are done cost money...if done in an outpatient setting more than at the doc's office. If this keeps up long enough, Craig will eventually need surgery, his affected leg will have foot drop and he will no longer drive a truck. They way it used to work was...the doc gets x amount of dollars for every patient he sees thru your HMO/insurance carrier. Say he gets 100 bucks. If he spends less than the hundred caring for Craig he gets to keep the left over, if he spends more he gets nothing. It is called an incentive to not treat. Call and call and call.
I thought the medical system in Canada was screwed up. Get well soon as I enjoyed the adventures from the road.
You would have a staunch supporter in my mom. And as she would likely say, "Here is another reason why we need national health coverage!" I am beginning to agree with her.
Opie
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