Thursday, June 26, 2008

Replay - Part II

ok, this is the last one of my flashbacks. This is the travel log for Day 2 of my UK-Ireland trip from Oct 2006.
Key words from the log: Dali, Big Ben, Westminster, London Eye, Princess Di, etc.
http://www.esnips.com/web/UKTrip2006-Day2a
New column on current events this weekend. Promise!

Friday, June 20, 2008

oh yeah, I am one of those

you know how TV stations, newspapers, websites, and blogs once in a while recycle some of their old stuff, well as much as dont want to be one of those, I have no choice. Have not thought of anything new to write, so will recycle some of my old stuff for you readers.

I went on a UK-Ireland trip in Oct 2006 and kept a travel log. Some of you may have read it (i had sent it out via email) but I've not posted it on the blog ever. So here goes:
Day 1 in London
(click on the link below and scroll down to the "File" section and click on the pdf link. yeah it is tedious but blogger.com does not let you post files for some reason, morons!)
http://www.esnips.com/web/UKTrip2006-Day1/

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Healthcare slap in the face!

It's true that things do not hit you in the face until you face the issue firsthand. I've known for some time that the US Healthcare system is riddled with so much bureaucracy that not only is it driving up prices for the common person but also it makes socialist bureacracy seem tame.

So, I needed to 4 vaccinations before I head to school as the state of MA requires every student to be immunized against certain conditions. I already did this when I came to the US as a grad student in 1995 but I had either lost the paperwork or in one case you need to get immunized every 5 years or so.

So what did I do? I called my insurance people and asked them if this is covered and the lady on the phone said that yes I was covered as long as the entire cost of the process was under $300 per year. Fair enough I thought.

-I placed a call to my PCP and took an appointment for 8:15 am on a Monday. I did not want to miss too much time from work.
-I show up at 8 am, sign-in at the front desk (on a computer by myself no less, yeah this place is fancy), wait once for some one to call me. My name is called and I go to a desk where I am asked the usual info and asked to shell out my co-pay. The lady then asks me to go wait in another area
until someone else would call me.
-Of course by the time someone comes to call me it is 8:30. F**k!! Why the heck do they appointments then? This is like waiting for the cable guy, "Someone will show up between 8 and 11 am". I dont understand what is the purpose of taking an appointment at a precise time when it means jacksh*t.
-anyway, a nurse takes me into a room and takes my temperature, blood pressure, weight, and height and asks me to go wait in another room for the doctor (i've never understood this serial waiting process).
-Of course by the time the doctor shows up it's close to 9 am. I tell her that my insurance covers $300 for all the vaccines so let me know if all the vaccinations will be covered by this. She obviously does not know and asks me to ask technicians when they give me the shots.
-She also mentions that they could draw blood from me and test that in the lab and if the results are ok I dont have to take 2 of the 4 vaccinations. I said ok.
-So copious amounts of blood is drawn (seriously they took like a litre of blood from me, jeeez!), a shot is given (hurt like crap for 2 days by the way), and some sort of another shot is injected in my forearm.
-I am asked to come back on Wednesday to show the nurses the thing in my forearm and if that's negative I am good for one of the 4 vaccines. The lab results for the other two would be mailed to me as soon as they are out and if they are negative.
-I go back on Wednesday and get the one vaccine taken care of.
-Then I get a call from my doctor who says that the lab tests came back ambivalent for two of the tests and one came back positive. Ambivalent meant that she had to ask them to be re-tested at another lab (which meant more $$ and I was getting irritated) or I could just come back again and get the shots. I told her that I would rather come back and get the shots.
-So I make an appt for Monday which mind you is exactly 7 days later to my first visit.
-I go through the motions on Monday as I sign-in and go the first waiting area. Mind you by now I am POd that I've had to take time off from work. The girl at the second desk asks me for another co-pay. I go "What?!" I was just here last Monday and am here to take care of that per my doctor. She goes, "Sir, this is policy every time you come back you have to co-pay". I was having none of that, "That does not make any sense to me". And she goes, "Sir, your insurance will pay for the visit dont worry you just have to pay your co-pay". Now I am getting more POd. This is how they are artificially driving up prices and making healthcare unaffordable. It did not make any sense for me to pay for co-pay twice especially since I was coming back to finish a procedure. She finally said, "You can talk to the doctor about this". Damn yes I will!
-The poor nurse who then came to get me from the waiting area had no idea what mood I was in. As she took me into a room to get the usual measurements, I went ballistic on her. "I was here 7 days ago, do you think I have contracted some strange disease in that period or grown 2 inches". For crying out loud, people need to use common sense in situations. I dont give a rat's a*s if its policy. It's following rules to the book is what drives prices in healthcare up.
-By the time the doctor came to see me I was raging mad! I lit into her as soon as she came in. She had an intern with her (who was a 2nd year student). Both of them looked scared after I finished speaking. The doctor's voice quivered as she spoke back. I wanted her to cancel all the tests and just give me the shots. She had ordered the tests despite me telling her not to, standard policy apparently (that friggin' term again!).
-She seemed genuinely pained on hearing me shout about the situation. She apologized for everything and told me that she will run right away and try to cancel the tests (which she managed to later). I talked to her about the co-pay and she apologetically said that it was policy (that term again!). I lectured her on that a bit (I was getting used to this!). What this did in effect was that she became nervous and told me that I did not need one of the shots and she couls sign saying that I did not need that (I told her that I remember getting that shot 2 times before).
-In 15 min I calmed down and apologized to her (and the intern) for yelling at them. They both mumbled something about them understanding. I am sure they went back and cursed the heck out me later. Who knows they did some voodoo stuff on my X-ray!

Bottom line, some basic reasoning needs to be factored into the healthcare system in this country. Redundant procedures are one of the main reasons that lead to rises in healthcare costs and these need to be reigned in. I need to get more info about this. I read that one of my future classmates is all about changing the healthcare system. Let's see how that goes.