Now I am in California, so please pipe in if you are from another part of the country where things might be different!
Health insurance is a racket — a modern-day-mafia-racket. We pay through the nose for the privilege of having health insurance, but who the heck can afford to use it? And when you need it, just try and get an appointment or follow-thru on a referral.
We recently changed insurance and decided to pay up a level. In other words — not pick the cheapest policy and see if our care services got any better. They didn’t.
I don’t get how the insurance companies can charge so much, but there is no responsibility for services to be provided. At least with my car insurance I get to drive my car and “use” the insurance.
You see, I can’t reach my doctor. Every number is a voicemail and unless you are making an appointment it is 48 hours or more before anyone calls you back. I cannot reach my doctor through email or online messaging — he is not showing up in my portal. After 3+ hours of phone calls, I was told to call the IT department. Really? Well I did what I was told, and guess what?!? They referred me right back to the original customer service number I started with. Their other suggestion was that I call the doc’s office and if they can’t help me, ask them to call their IT Level Support 2.
One of her closing comments was priceless: “It’s just another phone call.” I hope she didn’t think me rude when I laughed out loud.
First, I can’t get them live on the phone. Second, does that person think the doc’s office is going to listen to my recommendations about their computer skills or lack of?
I have managed to get some new prescriptions filled – 45 days after our appointment where we discussed the medication.
A few weeks ago I came down with COVID for the first time — My doctor’s assistant called back and said they called something in, and nothing was at the pharmacy. Thank goodness some TELE-doc who is not part of my regular doctor’s office called in a prescription for me.
This process is hell on my mental health.
I have an appointment with my primary doc in a couple of weeks, so at this point, I will wait to hopefully talk to him in person (now that I am healthy again).
Maybe if they hired another office person they could answer their phone or return calls — but operating on a skeleton staff seems to be the norm for every medical office I have visited since 2020. I want a premium discount for all the unanswered messages and stalling for our referrals (hubby has the same doc!).
Every month we don’t use our insurance is a benefit for the insurance company executives. Eerily similar to a monthly mafia stipend – because they are holding our services hostage.
I wish there was a way to get back to real health care. There has to be a way to fix this broken system. Anyone else agree? Let’s hear your story!