The American Health Care System is a mess. Note how I called it a system, when all it should be is a way to call a doctor, make an appointment, pay a copay, be seen in person, tests and medications prescribed for possibly more than one condition, you are billed for anything over the limit, and you live your life.
In the first few months of the year, I had been trying to make an appointment with a doctor through Blue Cross-Blue Shield. I've renamed them BIG CORPORATE BULL SHIT (BCBS).
First, I was assigned on my insurance card for my Primary Care Physician (PCP), a pediatric dentist! Yes, printed on my insurance card, and they have my birthdate in the 1960's, so I would not likely have a child that needed that unless I became pregnant in my 50's!
I called the office and they assured me that the card was not printed wrong, and that no, they could not see me for an annual check up. When I went to the Find a Doctor website for BCBS, to change my PCP, the nasty mess started. ON THE PCP page, stating that these professionals were PCPs, I found when I called the numbers listed: one pediatrician, one orthopedic surgeon, two emergency services practices, and at least 2 or 3 offices that were no longer in service. I tried one physician,at least 4 times and left a message, and spoke with two individuals to make an appointment, but it was never confirmed.
When I became frustrated that I might not be able to see a doctor before the prescription I take for my occasional racing heart ran out, I decided to wean myself off of the medicine by living a more healthy lifestyle. With the exception of the elimination of stress from my job and adding in more sleep to my busy lifestyle, I was able to increase exercise, limit bad fats, sugars and too much salt, and weaned off it with no side effects. I gave up on seeing a doctor with the insurance.
In April, I decided to try again. What a waste! A couple of offices were closed at lunch (12:30-1:30) when I have the time to call, and even after the official lunch hour was over, they were still closed and would not take a message for new patients. I tried 3 or 4 offices (no answer, ER doc and Orthopod). I finally found a medical group and they do not even have an office opened in the city where I live yet, but said that I could have a virtual appointment and they could request the lab work. What BS! The doctor's office said I needed to give them a reference # before could make the appointment. I called BCBS and they needed the exact name of the physician which I did not write down because I could not understand the speaker, so I had to call the group again for the name. Then, BCBS made me change the PCP before I could see another doctor, when it was their mistake in the first place. I eventually had the virtual appointment in which the doctor did not even turn on the camera, got the lab tests, and had another virtual appointment.
With my previous insurance plan, the doctor group I signed up with, Methodist, said that I had to see each specialist separately for everything. My PCP could not do a pap smear or prescribe a mammogram or a brain MRI.
And that is where the problem starts for individuals that do not see the bigger picture of overall care where a single doctor, a PCP, manages all the testing and drugs that a person is prescribed to prevent drug interactions, over-testing, and treatments. This seems to be the most effective, so why all the specialization? So that people can be prescribed more drugs to support Big Pharma?
We must manage our healthcare ourselves, which is a good thing, as far as we know. Not many people, unfortunately, are willing to dig deep and figure out, with our non-medical school knowledge, what is best for us overall. Sometimes, symptoms that we want to ignore are warnings of illness that we cannot diagnose. So, if you can, see an internist or general practice physician and have lab tests run annually to check out your prognosis, and be able to call him or her when you feel ill or something unusual is going on.
The good news now for me is that we now have an insurance plan in which we can choose our own doctor and be reimbursed for the visit. While it doesn't pay all that well, it eliminates the frustration of trying to even "get in" to the system to see a doctor. I'm actually glad that the disconnect with BCBS happened because I am a much healthier person now, having lost about 15 pounds, on no prescription drugs, exercising regularly and eating much more healthy food.
