I think I know what all the health care debaters are missing. I think the President, Congress, and all the semi-interested parties are focusing in the wrong areas.
I had my only experience to date with an MRI machine in August of 2008. Aside from some claustrophobia that made my 44 year old self wanting my mom (or anybody else’s for that matter) to be there to make it all better, I learned two salient details. MRI machines make sounds like my folks ’67 Ford used to and there is no way in hell that my 30 minutes of sheer bliss cost $1800.00.
I know the guy running the machine wasn’t pocketing those bucks either. I’m facing yet another chapter in insurance inefficiency once more. My previous employer had dental insurance on my kids until October of 2007 when I left for my current climbs. The kids were picked up by their Mom’s insurer who refused to pay anything in 2007, 2008 and the first part of 2009 because they were under the impression that my ceased policy was doing the work. This didn’t seem to bother them when my policy was active. That in and of itself was a mystery.
To rectify the situation, I had to go to the previous insurer, Met-Life, and have them draft a letter saying that they were not insuring me as of October 2007. Sent that off to GHI and (screw it, I’m naming names) thought all’s good. Dentist office was still twisted. So, I called back GHI and retraced my steps and made an agent process each appointment for each child.
You’d think all’s good. Until yesterday, when we get the notice that two appointments still slipped through the cracks. This really shouldn’t be this hard. Yet, as I write this, I’m about to slip into the void once more and get immersed in a divide of medical customer service that as precious little to do with health.
I’ve never thought it was the health care practitioners, it’s the fact that the first thing you encounter in a clipboard in any doctor’s office. I was able to call the emergency room doctor who initially treated my Bell’s Palsy and successfully get a referral for follow up. It is the craploads of data out there and it is being criminally mismanaged. My kids dental odyssey has taken months to get righted. That is where money is disappearing.
I’d like the President and Congress to come together on that one. Clean that up and you can say you had yourself a bit of a day.
Mike's Pub 