She literally called me at the time of the appointment to tell me she can’t see me. She was so apologetic, but was like “I absolutely can treat you, but I’m not allowed by your insurance”. Fuck this country.
Update: I went to urgent care. Before leaving home, I called to be sure they would accept my insurance (Aetna). They said yes… After arriving for my appointment, they told me they do not accept my insurance. I will simply leave without paying.
Final Update: I can understand that that differences in physical biology demand different attention. That’s not what I’m complaining about. It’s the way it’s set up. I was told that at my appointment. Why not just refer me to a specialist? The website could’ve even just referred me to urgent care (yes, my insurance requires a primary care physician’s referral for urgent care, according to the urgent care facility). But, no, their goal is to obfuscate and irritate until the patient gives you and pays out-of-pocket.
I was able to receive care at a cost I could not afford. I won’t discuss what I had to do to “find” the money to pay for care and prescriptions. That being said, the condition I was diagnosed with was more serious than a simple infection, and I’m glad that I saw a doctor. I need further treatment and just hope I can get insurance to cover any of it.
If you’re an American reading this, please consider ways to get involved in organizing in support of Medicare For All in your community. Here is one resource I have found. We don’t need to live like this. We deserve better. Stay safe and healthy, friends.
Yeah I think the argument is why doesn’t the government fix it. I mean we’re spending 20% of our GDP on health care when you’re every industrial world spends between 8 and 12… business owners are burdened by the issue of having employment attached to health care. So there are reasons, practical ones and financial ones why the government or the business community might want to change it.
But of course the same government is getting oodles of money from these private HMOs, hospitals, pharma… I mean Biden in particular was funded strongly by the partnership for American healthcare future which was a coalition of health care interest that basically existed just stop the Bernie Sanders campaign.
And while there are legitimate business reasons why a business owner might want to be unburdened with health care, the existence of the attachment of health care to employment gives them tremendous leverage over their workers.
But there are some reason. I mean there are capitalists and greedy politicians and business owners in every other OECD nation and they still aren’t as twisted as the US.