For some reason I get emails from the ACLJ.
Here is today's email and it annoyed me considering the day I've had.
"Dear Julie,
With Congress back in session, President Obama is pushing hard to revamp national health care ... at your expense.
Let me be clear: We've got very little time here to say ''NO'' to a government health care take-over.
The fact is, any government-run program - including the ''public option'' - is of grave concern and should be rejected. Government-run health care is not in the best interest of Americans - especially those who want to protect the sanctity of human life."
You know what Jay?
Screw you.
I had to leave the endocrinologist's office without having blood drawn and without getting the cyst on my thyroid looked at because I did not have $245 to pay upfront. That's the amount left my deductible that needs to be paid by me.
So I live in a country with the best health care and I have insurance but I still can't take part in that health care because I did not have $245 and I don't use credit cards.
If I lived in England or Canada or Sweden or Japan or Germany or France I would have gone in and been seen by the Doctor.
So screw you.
Before I begin I want to say that we are lucky to have insurance, pretty good insurance and I want everyone to be able to have the coverage we get.
I went to the LRDC, at 7:30 AM, to have my blood drawn after not having eaten anything since 10pm last night and only 2 cups of black coffee this morning and then was going back at 2:25 to see an endocrinologist.
The reason I was going to see an endocrinologist are many. I have a high calcium blood count which would point to parathyroid disease, except when scanned my parathyroids have no cysts/tumors. I have a 1 inch cyst on my thyroid, but all my thyroid levels are fine. Hormones, fine. My GP is at a bit of a loss and felt seeing a specialist was in order.
(before I get any farther into this story I still want to know why in the 21st century you still have to fill out forms when you go to see a specialist who is in the same system as all the other Doctors you see? Electronic forms transfer anyone? Why does your insurance information not just follow you so all it takes is a quick phone call when the appt. is made to verify a deductible payment or not? sheesh)
So before I can have my blood drawn I have to go talk to the "business" office lady....she was very nice.
Seems I still have $245 left on my deductible. Which seems odd since I thought my last round of blood tests had met it, it probably will when billed, but had not made it though the system yet.
They wanted their $245 before rendering service.
That's cool, my mistake maybe, I'm not dying, so I'll just make the appt for another day I said.
Or I could have the blood drawn, go home and come back for my 2:15 appointment with the checkbook I left at home. Sorry but I have been really forgetful lately and no food since 10pm the night before makes me scattered and well, easily annoyed.
So she says just a min and about 5 min later some other woman comes in to explain to me what the other woman has just told me and to ask if I had a credit card.
sigh.
I said no no credit cards, I'm not mad, Its ok, I'll just make another appointment.
(At that point my hands are shaking and I'm not really all there so this is all being remembered though a slight low sugar episode. )
She then goes on to use her church voice (you know the one where they are speaking "in love" to let you know what a fuck-up you are) to ask why I had not "properly read the forms, it said I would have to pay a deductible, they went to a lot of trouble to make sure it was all spelled out" and did I not know they had set aside an hour with the Dr. for me?
Jesus.
MY bad lady.
Mea culpa.
After that it gets kinda fuzzy but I think I told her she did not need to speak to me like a child, said something about single payer health care, and left feeling humiliated and annoyed that that was all she could say.
The point of my long story is I did not get to see the Doctor today because:
A. I can be forgetful, which the new forgetfulness in the last year is one of the reasons I was going to see the Dr. along with a cyst on my thyroid and other issues.
B. The lack of $245 at time of service.
C. The lack of a single payer health care system.
D. Because these big group specialists centers, like Little Rock Diagnostic Center, are all about making money. The real problem in this country is that health care is a for profit business that makes money off of the suffering of others.
(I have to admit I was really surprised by the whole $245 thing since we just went though a year with CARTI (prostate cancer treatment) and close to a $75,000 bill and before my husband even went there they knew what our insurance would and would not pay AND what we would need to pony up and they never asked for money up front. Not once. They are still waiting till our insurance finishes paying their share before we have to begin paying. I guess we have been spoiled by them and our GP who bills us and says "come in if you are sick, even if you can't pay".)
So screw you Jay, its been one of those days and your email was really the last thing I needed to read.
EDIT: Sorry guys, I've added a link to ACLJ. They are a conservative group that "focuses on constitutional law and is based in Washington, D.C. The ACLJ is specifically dedicated to the ideal that religious freedom and freedom of speech are inalienable, God-given rights."
Blah, blah, blah....