my healthcare experience

{found via pinterest}

ok friends, i'm going to tell you here and now that a tirade is coming at you. if you're not in the mood for it, i understand.

but for those of you who are sticking it out, here goes --

the understatement of the morning is this: i'm not too happy right now.
let me explain why.

today we were supposed to have the ultrasound to check on the baby, and find out whether this little one is a little man or a little lady. key word in the above sentence: SUPPOSED. here's what actually happened this morning:

i woke up on the early side to eat breakfast and talk to peter about a few things. i had already figured out what i was going to wear today because i knew we would probably have to wake keane up to get him breakfast and get him ready to go in time for our 9 a.m. appointment. and that is exactly what happened. i woke keane up at 8:20 and got him his breakfast. peter worked from home today so that he could be there for the appointment; so i left keane under his watchful eye so i could get myself ready to go.

and then, as i put the finishing touches on my mascara - which is always the last part of doing my makeup - and we were readying ourselves to walk out the door at 8:50 [the office is only 5 minutes away] my phone rang.

guess who it was. no, really - guess.

it was my doctor's office - though not the location where i normally go. and the caller informed me that the ultrasound tech at that location was out today, and thus the ultrasound tech at my location would have to cover all of the appointments at that location, and my appointment would have to be rescheduled.

i'm sorry, what?? there is nothing wrong with anything at my office location, but i'm not as important as the people at the other location, so despite the fact that my husband is home from work, and setup his entire schedule to work around this appointment; despite the fact that my son - my ONE YEAR OLD SON had to wake up early so we could all come to the appointment; despite the fact that we had told EVERYONE when the appointment was and that today is the day of the ultrasound and the day we would find out; and despite the fact that it really is THAT BIG OF A DEAL, all you can give me is a call as i'm leaving the house and a cursory apology??

not to mention the fact that the earliest i could then get a rescheduled appointment is thursday, and that i have to now go to the other office location and see a different doctor whom i've never seen before and, given that we're having a scheduled c-section, is not the doctor who will deliver our child.

if this had been a one time thing i would have been pissed, but i would have gotten over it soon enough. but given the fact that i almost died on an OR table whilst having an emergency c-section with keane - and no one, NO ONE, from the doctor's office, or from the hospital EVER came and talked to us about what happened, or even explained what exactly happened, but we figured out what happened from talking with keane's doctor and piecing things together on our own. and given the fact that i have repeatedly had to have appointments rescheduled, including the early ultrasound with this pregnancy. i'm beyond pissed.

and why do they do nothing but offer a cursory apology - if that, even when they almost kill you?

because they don't have to. they still charge just as much to the insurance company - sometimes more depending on how much extra they have to do to save your life once they almost kill you, and they still get paid just as much. most days, when you walk into a doctor's office or hospital you are not a customer. you are a patient, and they hold all the cards.

you want good healthcare? it'll bankrupt you, so you might as well have saved your money and lived while you were dying.

i have stayed at "greater carolinas women's center" because i like my doctor. because he has handled things well, and i trust him to take care of me and my babies. but make no mistake, the last straw has been drawn.

if we decide to try to have another baby biologically i will switch practices. i will switch outside of carolinas medical center because it's that bad. when you overcharge on everything, and make ridiculous amounts of money, and yet you cannot even offer something small and simple to make restitution to your customers - yes, customers - when you screw them over then i'll take my insurance money somewhere else.

and since that's all that matters to you people - not the level of care you actually give, and whether or not you actually care about the people you're supposed to be caring for - it's just about the money, then i'll take mine somewhere else.

the problem with that is the whole system is screwed up. still. still very screwed up. you cannot take a healthcare law band-aid and expect it to fix something that is fundamentally broken.

[i try not to talk too much about politics on here, by choice, but i feel that the above statement needs a bit of explanation.]

i am firmly down the middle when it comes to obamacare. in many ways i am in favor of universal healthcare. i think that if you look at european countries who do have universal healthcare they far surpass us in the united states when it comes to the level of care they are given across the board. however, i do not think that obamacare will solve anything for the simple fact that our system does not need reformation, but transformation. you cannot put a bandaid on a hemorrhaging artery and expect it to stop the bleeding. we need to scrap the system completely and start over. build from the bottom up in a way that actually helps the people it's supposed to help, not in a way that bankrupts them.

and, cards on the table, i am also not in favor of the healthcare law from a personal standpoint since my husband and i are young and healthy, and our monthly insurance cost is now the second-highest monthly [and i believe, yearly] cost in our budget. the only thing that costs us more is our mortgage, so i do not consider the "affordable care act" the least bit affordable.

but i digress.

let me just say that i do not think the problem lies with the vast majority of the doctors or nurses, or the "boots on the ground" people. they are at the mercy of a bureaucratic system that is out to screw people.  the system is the problem. and it is a big one.

from my standpoint, let's just say that the healthcare system as it is spews a lot of crap, and today i got to be the unsuspecting receptacle who caught it.

here's hoping your monday

is better than mine.

xo