I am a relatively healthy person. I follow my doctor's orders and except for a love of nicotine which lasted years, I have lived a relatively healthy life. I have found it easier to not go to the doctor's, than it is to go.
From the time my son was born and I took my first job at a small newspaper in Winter Haven, Florida, I have had insurance. In 1979, I had insurance on my son and me plus a cancer rider and still could afford to have insurance while making $2.90 an hour. That really began changing in the late 1980's due to the HMO law Nixon signed in 1973. If you would like to read a history of this, you can here.
I went through cancer treatment and my son had several bouts with pneumonia and never saw a bill. It didn't change when I switched jobs and over the past 40 years I have been treated for kidney stones, calcium deposits in my feet, tendonitis and a physical each year. I won't go in to how many visits were made to the ER when Jeremy was growing up.
When I fell last Thursday and thought my ankle was broken, I had no qualms about visiting the ER at Sarasota Memorial. After the visit and the experiences I have had this week with doctors, I have decided the whole system is now seriously flawed. First I had a person dun me for the $100 co-pay my insurance requires before I even spoke to a person about my diagnosis.
After waiting nearly an hour for someone to read my x-rays, I was taken in to a small examination room, told my ankle was not broken and my Achille's tendon was not torn. An EMT, who had no idea how to fit my boot, pretty much left me on my own; I was given one pain pill and crutches, directions for after care and a referral and sent on my way.
On Monday, I called to schedule a follow up with the orthopedic doctor the ER referred me to. His nurse informed me he was a trauma surgeon and was only on call the night I was at the ER. She read what the ER doctor had written and said she HAD to give me a follow up, but it was my decision whether to go because, "you know, the doctor is a TRAUMA specialist" and "you have a sprained ankle."
Ok, so that irritated me and I called the foot and ankle specialist that I have been seeing for my Achille's tendon issues. His nurse told me they would not normally see me in this situation but because I had been in for my tendon, they could fit me in in a week or so? Huh? That made me angry enough to change my mind about having any surgery on my Achille's.
My GP, Dr. Krista Toomre, moved back to Colorado last summer so I only have a PA in her office until I have my physical in the summer. I have never met her before but she fills my prescriptions for me. Perhaps I will be allowed to meet her when I go for that appointment or maybe I will actually see a doctor who took Dr. Toomre's spot.
Upset at medicine? Right now I am.
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