tavie.com

Health care in this country is bullshit.

A personal anecdote: I have been trying to get a particular procedure done for over a month. My primary doctor told me I needed to get it after some abnormal results were returned from a routine exam. So I made an appointment with the doctor she suggested.

I showed up at the appointed time and was told that the results had never made it over from my other doctor's office. Well, first I was told that my insurance was rejected, and then they told me that whoops, never mind, it was fine. So then I rescheduled the procedure.

It was supposed to happen today, but when I showed up, I was told that they had tried calling me "ten minutes ago" to tell me that my appointment had to be rescheduled. Again. Because my insurance was "inactive".

No, it's not, I said. Check again. The receptionists got snippy and said that I'd have to take it up with my insurance company. But I've rescheduled this already, I can't keep losing time from work, and you told me my insurance was bad last time when it wasn't. Don't look at us, they said.

At this point, I stormed out of the office in tears and called my insurance company, who immediately told me that my insurance was fine and that the doctor's office should call them. So I went up to tell them and they said, "Oh, glad you're still here, your insurance isn't inactive, it's just that this particular exam has to be pre-approved."

Well, goddamn it, couldn't you:

a) Get it pre-approved the last time I had to reschedule?
and
b) Figure this out a little earlier than ten minutes before my appointment? Calling my phone while I'm underground in the subway on the way to my weekday-morning appointment for an invasive cancer-screening* procedure that I've already had to psych myself up for before is extremely inconvenient.

Fuck. This. Shit.

*I'm fine, this is all basically routine, but slightly more invasive than the procedure you're probably thinking of, which you shouldn't be trying to guess anyway, because ew.

Why are you in Tavie's head? 7:55 PM | shower me with attention