07 April 2008

The inanity of the U.S. health care system, small-scale, on a Monday afternoon.

1:10pm - Show up to my general practitioner's office for my 1:15 appointment to get the last dose of a 3-shot vaccination* and fill out paperwork to update their "new" system -- you know; the usual [annoying, yet tolerable] stuff.

1:30 - Get called back at which time I'm informed that they can't actually give me the vaccine because they don't have any. Why not? Apparently "[health] insurance companies" (the nurse didn't tell me which ones) haven't been reimbursing them for it. The solution? I was given a prescription, told to have it filled, come back with the vial and they will administer it with their handy-dandy needles. Too bad I can't just drink the dose.

So all kinds of screwiness going on: Anthem (my provider) needs a fatty wrench to the corporate lug nuts if they're not reimbursing their clients. I *heart* my GP, but why didn't they call me last week so I could've gotten the prescription filled before my appointment today? And on that note, why wasn't this flagged this morning so they could've just handed me the prescription when I walked in instead of having me wait around for 20 minutes? Now I'll have wasted 2 lunch breaks and who knows if I'm going to get reimbursed for the vaccine itself, not to mention the doctor's visit.

Tighten up, wacky health care system. All this bureaucracy makes me feel like I'm in Brazil.



*Seriously, ladies: unless you're wearing one of these for life, kick cervical cancer in the face and get this biz.

1 comment:

Pepper said...

terrible. you should go at them like a hurricane made of fingernails and teeth.