I called my doctor’s office for an appointment yesterday. I was feeling ambitious; I’d finally gotten a replacement inhaler out of my insurance carrier, even if it did take me an exhausting two weeks.
Even though my primary is still out on maternity leave, another doctor is supposed to cover for her (I just saw her last week.)
Well! Turns out the person I saw just quit, and they won’t have any appointments until September. “So you’re telling me to find another practice,” I said to the office manager.
“No, no,” she said. “But there won’t be any appointments until then.”
“I’m having knee replacement in three weeks, and I need someone who can follow up after the surgery,” I said. “So you’re basically telling me to find another practice.”
“I’ll try to get Dr. M. to call you,” she told me.
I called my previous internist, who used to be at this same practice but has since moved to a less convenient location. I got an appointment for Friday. The office manager told me, however, he was retiring — in December. (I would have sworn he was only in his forties.)
I told her the other practice was driving me crazy, and she starting laughing. “So I’ve heard,” she said.
And then I called the nurse navigator, who’s now in charge of the practice I’m leaving. (He was brought in to clean up the mess. Ha!) He’s out of the office until next week.
Now, here’s the thing. This is a university hospital practice, in a part of the city that’s been steadily gentrifying for 15 years. It’s been a mess. The people who work in the front office seem to be competent only when the mood hits them. They don’t follow up on things, there’s constant turnover with the physicians, and the parent hospital just can’t seem to get a grip on this place.
So when people bitch to me about how awful universal health care would be, I just roll my eyes. How much worse can it get?
Preaching to the choir I know but, I was at my pharmacy and the folks in line were trying to p/u meds for the woman’s heart condition. Insurance had changed without effectively notifying them. The pharmacy could say why. Copay went from zero to $120 and they couldn’t afford it. The best the pharmacy could do was a couple of days worth (with a coupon card), while they got in touch with their insurance (good luck with that), but it would still cost more than the $120 for a month. They left trying to figure out what to do? I left feeling helpless and disgusted.
Sorry * couldn’t say why *
It’s just infuriating.
My pharmacy told me — get this — they could not offer alternatives that would be covered under my plan. I’d have to have the physician call the insurance co. to find out.