I was walking into a cafe on March 15 when I felt a 'pop' in my right knee and found myself unable to walk. After a trip the emergency room, I went to the orthopedic surgeons the next day. They checked me out, told me to go home, stay off my feet for a few days and come back if the pain persisted.
I went back yesterday.
I had a MRI last week which showed my arthritis had done some damage to the right knee and it was recommended that I go back to the orthopedic surgeons for possible arthroscopic surgery. I contacted the surgeon's office and made an appointment.
I arrived at the waiting room at nine as scheduled and went to the receptionist's window, limping. I filled out the small form she gave me, checked off that I had insurance, Medicare, and initialed the appointment slip handed to me. While doing this I noticed a sign on window to my right.
The sign in bold print advised that the doctors were not accepting new Medicare patients after March 20 because of some complaint the doctors had about the Congress not addressing some problem or another with Medicare payments. I had never heard of this 'problem' before.
When I asked about it, I was informed it did not apply to me because I had been in on March 16 for my ailment and the personal relationship my referring family doctor had with the surgeons.
I sat down feeling very uncomfortable. The surgeons were obviously turning away other Medicare patients who were not a 'lucky' as I. They also had to be extreme conservatives making a political point with other people's health.
I could have started a fight by telling them 'Obamacare' was supposed to create 'elitists' who would receive treatment when common people could not, but, I decided against that. But, I felt increasingly more uncomfortable with what was happening.
Finally, I got up and walked/limped to the receptionist's window again. I told her it was obvious to me that the surgeons were not interested in having my business and I would go elsewhere to have the work done.
As I walked/limped out to the door the receptionist tried calling me back but I continued on. I noticed the pain in my knee was much less than the potential pain I would have suffered had I not left.