Just want to vent ...
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| Mon, 12-27-2004 - 1:29pm |
I just want to vent. I'm sat here writing my medical bills out, and every time I write them I remember how uselss the doctors were in ensuring I wasn't racked over the coals with bills. I had a problem that was solved by antibiotics and yet I had to have 2 unnecessary CAT scans, which were the main part of this medical debt. It also happened 2 weeks before my health insurance kicked in, so instead of the co-pay of an emergency room visit it cost me nearly $4,000. I told the hospital I had no insurance and they just didn't give a s**t and every month I write the $200+ in checks I want to scream. That doctor should never been given his license, more vent more vent aarghhhhh!!!!!!!! The funniest part was they kept talking about my health, but no worries about my mental health paying this stupid bill every month, and for the next two years. I really dislike that doctor, because had he just asked me the right questions, he could have saved me some money, but they don't care - they want to run up bills for people. I don't think my health was quite worth $4,000 for a simple disorder. Emergency room doctors are the worse. That's why they work in ER.
Second vent - Clothes that shrink! AAAARRGH!!!!!! I bought a pair of jeans - fit well - washed them - now they have shrunk. Badly made clothes are my biggest vent. I don't shop often for clothes, don't like to spend the money on them, and when I do I don't always buy the cheapest. They are just so badly made nowadays. It really annoys me to pay for something and 3 weeks, or 3 washes later it looks like c**p.
Sorry for the vents, but I just felt them coming on today and it saves my poor boyfriend from having to hear it.

Vent away! I hope things get better for you.
slojuly
I'm not laughing about your vents-just what you said at the end about posting it here so that your BF doesn't have to listen to it! I do that too, lol.
I don't know what to tell you about the bills-is there anyway you can talk to the doctor/hospital to see if they will give you a discount or take some off the total?
Vent away-we're all here to listen.
Lisa
These are all things that just make me see red, too!
Doctors!! Most of them spend so much time learning the details of medicine that they know nothing about diet, exercise, or anything else related to health; and most of them are so buried in school debt (and paying their malpractice insurance) that they don't have time to slow down and listen to their patients, because they have to see enough people in the day to pay all their bills. A lot of that is not their fault, but it does make me angry that they don't seem to listen. The last time I went to a doctor for myself (and trust me, it was a LONG time ago, because I finally got fed up and realized I can take better care of my own health most of the time), I sat in the waiting room for an hour and a half, and then in the COLD exam room, naked except a paper robe open in the back, and shivered for another 45 minutes. I saw the doctor for exactly four minutes, and didn't even have an opportunity to ask all my questions. They tend to over-diagnose and over-medicate because they know that people don't sue for doing too much, only for doing too little, so it is safer for them to simply do everything they can think of and let insurance and individuals pick up the tab. I can go on and on on this topic, so shut me up now!! LOL
The last time I went to a doctor for one of my children, she took blood for what we thought might be a serious condition and then only ran tests on it for simple, minor things that would have cleared up on their own by the time they were detected. So my son, who was extremely traumatized by the whole thing (I had to hold him down, while my infant son screamed on the exam table behind me, and the son whose blood was taken didn't speak again until after we got home, having gone slack and pale, and falling asleep instantly in the car seat on the way home--since then, he won't even let us *look* at scrapes, cuts, or bruises, let alone clean them up or put anything on them--and it's been MONTHS), went through all of that for NOTHING, and we still didn't get answers on the condition we specifically wanted to know about. The time before that, we only went to the doctor because of pressure from extended family, and the doctor just told us what we already knew--that he was fine and would fight the virus off on his own--and then charged us $130 for the advice (oh, there's more to that story, but I'd better quit...).
Okay, so I'm shutting up on doctors. I'm so sorry you've had such an expensive bad experience with one. We have mostly used only alternative practitioners for years, except the instances cited above, and have found it actually to be cheaper and better. Although our insurance won't cover it, we've found that we stay healthier and need fewer visits, and that we get listened to and the end result just tends to be cheaper than the screw-ups and nonsense that happens with traditional doctors.
I hope I haven't offended anyone with my comments on doctors. I know there are a lot of idealistic doctors out there, and some really good ones too, I've just found that the healthcare system in general here tends not to be conducive to good *health* care. On the other hand, for people with acute illnesses and conditions, we have some of the best life-saving techniques, procedures, and skilled doctors in the world. So I'm not poo-pooing modern medicine.
On to other things... I also get really annoyed about low-quality things that I spend money on. I especially hate low-quality children's toys that break in the first few sessions of playing. It makes me angry because children get so attached to something and it makes them so sad when they break, so why make something that is going to break right away? We mostly buy things only at yard sales, where they've already been through the test of time, and where the cost is so low even if it doesn't work out it's not the end of the world. When we do buy things new, we buy brands and quality that we recognize as being good. Not that we never have experiences like yours--it certainly happens to us as well sometimes, and it is SO frustrating.
Anyway, I'm sorry you're having such a frustrating time. I hope you feel better about it soon. I would definitely talk to the hospital about reducing your bill. I hope they'll be reasonable about it.
Hugs and blessings,
Heather
Hey ladies -
Thanks for not making feel alone in my vent. I have total respect for doctors also and know they have a tough job, but it was crazy they could run all these expensive tests on me and then at the same time not give me any painkillers. I know there are people who abuse the system to get pharmaceuticals but I am not one of those. I was in acute pain, and they gave me nothing for that but deemed all the CAT Scans necessary. It was a big thing to get me to the ER. The Doctor on Call doctors wouldn't see me for the same thing twice, so I was told to go to the ER. I was in tremendous pain and had no choice.
Thanks for the suggestion on lowering the bill. Believe it or not I have had the ER visit reduced by 35%, as much as I was able to with the amount I earn. I actually got an extra 5% discount because I contacted them immediately and let them know about needing a payment plan, that I am single with a mortgage etc, and not able to pay at once. There were 4 bills altogether, and just the visit to the ER could be reduced. You can't reduce the doctors, lab techs etc. My bill was still close to $4000 with the discount. The medical bills were what brought me to this board, before that I wasn't feeling that I was so in debt.
Sorry to hear about all your doctor experiences. My doctor actually has a thing that says you can only be diagnosed for 2 things per a visit. I guess it's a way to get patients moving quickly through - who knows.
The vet is the other money pit I dislike enormously. Last night my cat cost $95 for booster shots, fecal examinations etc. It seems that nowadays you have to have money to even own a pet. Almost like if you don't make money, you can't have a pet. Elitism for pet ownership, and it's crazy. The vets make you feel guilty if you're not testing and vaccinating them for everything. What happened to the days when you just owned a dog or a cat, and they ran around and did fine. Now if you don't do this, that or the other you're a bad pet owner. I think my animals have more vaccinations than some children in this world. Crazy! I could just vent on about how the medical profession uses guilt to get money out of you, but I won't.
I didn't mention any of this to my boyfriend, so venting here workd. Thanks Board.