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Unfortunately, and despite my best efforts, I am continuing to age. This process has come with a number of undesirable side effects, a few of which I will tell you about now: -my mortal body is continuing to decay -I have aged out of my parents' health insurance plan and have had to pay for my own this year -because I've never bought health insurance before, I made a really idiotic choice when I purchased my plan, apparently I'm new to my current city and to the world of navigating my own insurance. I recently went to a dermatologist for reasons unrelated to the rest of this story. During my first visit with this doctor, I was told that, due to the way HMOs work, I would have to assign her as my primary care physician. Fine - I visit the doctor maybe once a year. I didn't see a problem with it. Plus, I know absolutely nothing about HMOs. During this appointment, I mentioned that I'd gotten a really bad sunburn a few weeks prior, and subsequently had found a strange dark spot on my back. She checked it out, and audibly gasped. She recommended a biopsy, and left the room for a few minutes to check out what my options were. She came back and said I needed to get a referral to some OTHER dermatologist (the first of many  moments in this whole process). She said it would take about two weeks to get a referral, but that maybe the spot would go away in the interim (it hasn't).Two weeks go by, and I call the office. I am told to call back tomorrow. Next day, same thing. The NEXT day, I am told that the referrals person is out of town for the week. Starting to grow concerned about the whole cancer thing, I finally call Blue Shield and ask for someone to explain what the hell is going on. I am transferred to three different departments before I am hung up on. I called my PCP's office the split second they opened this morning (I wasn't able to get ahold of anyone before today thanks to the holiday weekend). The referral specialist said "Oh, your referral came in this morning!" (untrue! according to the paperwork she sent me, it came in on the 2nd). She said she would fax it to the doctor and mail it to me ( ). I politely reminded her that we're living in the 21st century now, and had her email me the referral information instead. I got it, called this new office, and am told that none of their dermatologists will be available until September. I called my PCP, and was told that they'd call me back in the next three days.HOW DO I GET A loving DOCTOR TO LOOK AT WHAT IS POSSIBLY A loving CANCEROUS SPOT ON MY BACK?! I have no idea what my rights are or who I need to talk to to get this taken care of. Any time I try to explain this situation to someone at Blue Shield I get about five seconds of silence on the other end and am then told that I'm being transferred to some other loving phone jockey. I would ask someone I know in real life about this but would really prefer not to scare anyone. Should I go to the ER? Should I storm into my PCP's office and demand a biopsy? Should I remove the dark spot myself with an exacto knife? Should I just embrace my own inevitable death? Depressio111117 fucked around with this message at 00:44 on Jul 7, 2015 |
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Jul 6, 2015 23:11
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| # ? Apr 23, 2024 17:32 |
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I would start by getting on the phone to your initial dermatologist, and finding out how big of a deal it would be to wait until September for your spot. It sounds like she didn't tell you much about it, and you should really be better informed.
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Jul 6, 2015 23:26
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^^ This. It's hard to have faith in the system, and I'm not saying you shouldn't fight the good fight when it's important, but I have Kaiser, and you can definitely tell the difference between a "this is important"referral and one that isn't so important. Call Dermo #1 back and ask.
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Jul 6, 2015 23:50
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I will do that soon as I'm able tomorrow. The doctor's audible gasp and the specter of the c-word have been driving me completely bonkers, so I haven't had my head screwed on straight about this situation. Plus, having tangible evidence that the staff there are liars really doesn't fill me with confidence.
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Jul 7, 2015 00:49
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Depressio111117 posted:I will do that soon as I'm able tomorrow. The doctor's audible gasp and the specter of the c-word have been driving me completely bonkers, so I haven't had my head screwed on straight about this situation.
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Jul 7, 2015 01:42
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So what has the death panel decided WRT your demise?
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Jul 7, 2015 04:57
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Bip Roberts posted:So what has the death panel decided WRT your demise? Think they've decided that it's most cost effective to gaslight me until I kill myself.
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Jul 7, 2015 07:52
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Depressio111117 posted:Unfortunately, and despite my best efforts, I am continuing to age. This process has come with a number of undesirable side effects, a few of which I will tell you about now: HMOs are for people who never get sick and/or "don't see the need for health care FINE OBAMA, THANKS A LOT" and then have something terribly lovely happen to them, reminding them why good health insurance/actual nationalized health care is such a vital thing. So, you're pretty much on track, OP. Unfortunately.
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Jul 7, 2015 19:19
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After talking to dermo #1 again another possibility is to see if there are any other specialists they can refer you to that might have an earlier appointment available. The basic procedure is like this: 1. Go see PCP for checkups or anything that might be bothering you. If the problem is something small or that they know about they'll give you medicine or tell you it's nothing or tell you to stop being fat or whatever. 2. Something the PCP can't handle comes up so they'll send you to a specialist. This is what the referral is for. Not every doctor knows everything so they specialize. These specialists have a better chance of providing better treatment since they are more knowledgeable about your potential problem. There are also fewer specialists owing to the nature of their specific field of knowledge so they tend to have long wait times for appointments. 3. Go to specialist they find out nothing is wrong or you are dying or it's not what the first doctor thought. They give you treatment or possibly another referral. Ride the merry-go-round. Sounds like the office staff from dermo #1 is either stupid or (more likely) just kinda lazy. That's why you didn't get your referral until now. You know, plus the holiday weekend. If there was any concern that it was critical you be seen immediately they'd get you in rather than just do a standard referral. All of this procedural stuff is actually not being handled by the HMO but the medical staff at the various clinics. If anyone is trying to kill you it's them, not your HMO. Yet.
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Jul 7, 2015 20:35
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Called the doctor's office today. Apparently the PCP is at a medical conference until the 28th. Kickin' rad. I asked whether or not my second referral had ever gone through. There were a couple seconds of silence followed by, "Oh, I can try and get you another referral. Call back in a couple of days." I'm a little less freaked out by the looming possibility that this is cancer, but am still frustrated enough by this office to consider chucking a Molotov cocktail through their window.
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Jul 14, 2015 23:38
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You can buy PCP on the street, you know.
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Jul 15, 2015 06:08
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| # ? Apr 23, 2024 17:32 |
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I'm pretty sure in America your rights as a sick person are either die and let your family pay for your funeral, or don't die and spend the rest of your life paying for it. In theory insurance could cover it, but it doesnt sound like your rich enough to have good enough insurance. Sorry, enjoy your debt/afterlife.
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Jul 16, 2015 20:21
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