I shouldn’t write columns when I’m angry. But sometimes I do to sort through the thoughts in my brain.
I had a medical problem last week. The pain in my back and arm had built to a point where I was in tears trying to move. A chiropractic appointment had helped me feel better, but the next day I was in the hurt bag once more.
The pain medication I was taking was not helping much. I took the day off work, knowing I wouldn’t be able to function well in my classroom. I called the Mayo Clinic in Owatonna, and after talking to a triage nurse, she recommended I be seen in the next four hours. The scheduling assistant offered me a batch of different times, and I took the first one I could get to, at 8:40.
The first problem here is one that’s been around for a while. I didn’t talk to anybody in Owatonna. Everything is centralized. There isn’t that hometown touch like there used to be. The people on the line were very nice, but it always feels a bit off when I’m talking to someone and I don’t know where they are.
I arrived early for the appointment. The receptionist looked puzzled at first when I gave my name and birthdate. Once he realized the problem, he said the scheduler had accidentally put me down for the next day. Oh, and there were no more appointments available the rest of the day. Did I want to keep the one for the next day?
At this point, the pain was so great that I had to sit down. It had not been a pleasant car ride.
I try not to lose my temper in these situations. It was not the fault of the young man in front of me. I told him I had so much pain that I expected to be seen. He said I could go to the ER. In disbelief, I asked if Mayo Clinic would then be covering the difference in cost between emergency room services and an office visit.
Here’s another issue with health care - the cost. It’s prohibitive. If I had an actual emergency, of course I would use that facility. But that’s thousands of dollars just for walking in there. Just to see someone at Mayo is $250 at a minimum. Many people forego medical treatment because they can’t afford basic care. That’s sad.
The gentleman was nice enough to have a nurse come out to help me. When she arrived, she said she had scoured everything and could get me in at 3:30 with someone in internal medicine. I was agape. I explained the difficult car ride and how I’d have to make it again. I wondered out loud what the discount would be for this. I wondered to myself how well a specialist could help me.
Have you tried to see your family doctor lately? For us, it’s probably a two-month wait. You get scheduled with one of his team if you can’t wait that long, which you usually can’t. I’m sure the medical field has just as many shortages as every other occupation. About the only time I see my regular doctor is if I schedule a physical well in advance. This leads to a lack in consistency. It used to be that I only saw my doctor, and they knew my entire medical history since they had been about the only one to see me.
As I sat there in disbelief, I mentioned that the way to treat a customer when the company makes a mistake would be to figure out how to squeeze me in. I knew that would push back appointments, but when was the last time the doctor saw you on time? I know there are procedures, but again, it wasn’t that long ago (or maybe it was) that when things were not so centralized, calling in the morning and explaining, even if there wasn’t an official appointment opening, they would create one, knowing the doctor and the appointments already scheduled and that finding ten minutes could be done. No more.
For all this, I’ll have to pay for everything. My insurance deductible is so high that it would take a lot of problems (or an ER visit) to meet it and get some of the cost knocked off. And just like many of you, my premium is so high that it makes one wonder if they should take a chance without it.
Our group plan is going up 10% next year, and we’re on the low end of groups in the area for an increase. This has been routine, and our group has had to try to dodge around, finding something that doesn’t make your check go down by more than any raise you might get. I’ve heard from several people that health insurance and daycare costs put them on the negative side of the ledger.
These costs aren’t going to change. But they have to. When people can’t afford basic health care, it’s an issue our country has to address. I don’t have any answers, but I suspect it would involve tearing down the structures currently in place and starting over. Will anyone have the courage to do that?
I’m still in some pain as I send this in. It’s not the same level as when I went to the clinic, but if it doesn’t go away, I may have to make another appointment. Wish me luck!
Word of the Week: This week’s word is battology, which means the continual use of the same words or phrases in writing, as in, “The angry columnist had to scour his column to make sure he hadn’t engaged in battology while writing.” Impress your friends and confuse your enemies!