Oh, yes I do!
So here I am in a brave new world with no-mo-HMO.
I belonged to an HMO for what seemed like forever. I can barely remember how I went about seeing a doctor before there was Kaiser. It’s terrifying to be without it now. I wasn’t always a big fan of the Kaiser system but I grew to understand it. It was familiar to me. There is comfort in the familiar. The well-known, pre-recorded selections and options to choose from and doctors who (for better or worse) knew me and my litany of woes were familiar.
It’s all unknown again…new offices, new doctors, new smells, new sounds, new patient history forms and all sorts of brand new imagined terrors.
I am attempting to figure it out and doctor-up before I find myself in a crisis, panic, meltdown and NEED one ASAP.
On a bright note, I no longer have to deal with general practitioners acting as gatekeepers for the specialists. If I want to go see an otolaryngologist, I can just go the hell out and see one.
On a not so sunny note, when I called a particular medical center today and asked if I could speak to someone from otolaryngology, the receptionist asked if that was like an obgyn!!!
6 comments:
Barbora--Hi. Found my way here through Leila's and Dave's blogs. That picture is um, disturbing and funny--where did you find it?
Regardomg the big change--you'll probably like it (ob-laryngolists notwithstanding). Do you have all new doctors? We have been non-HMO for several years, and mostly it's better. Except for the millions of bills. Go for any kind of test more complicated than a blood draw (or, heaven forbid, the ER), and you get bills from everybody who breathed the same air you did that day. You think you're done paying for something, and a bill rolls in from the assistant to the radiologist who cranked the button on the xray machine ... and each of those bills is a reminder of all things hypochondriac, so it's kind of like getting charged twice. Just my personal neurotic slant on the issue.
We are going to have to make the opposite shift (we get to choose from 3 or 4 HMOs), and I dread the whole gatekeeper thing. At least I've been with my primary doc 2 yrs already, so that prior relationship should help. But I hate her preferred HMO.
The only good thing about that stupid heart cath I just had (besides the negative result of course) is that it was done at a hospital which seems much nicer than the one she (my PCP) practices with. But that could just be window dressing; what do I know? Just one more thing to wonder (worry) about. You're right, change is scary. Let's hope it works out well for both of us.
Trish
Hey Barb!
I have a PPO myself and simply love it. I can't stand the HMO hoops to jump through to see who you want to see. HMO-no mo!
;)
Thanks for stopping by my blog.
Hi Trish,
I’m relieved to hear that your heart cath was ok! I saw your original post about it on Leila’s blog. It just doesn’t get any easier for those of us who are (shall we say) over 30.
I am in complete sympathy with you about “worrying about bad consequences of what was essentially an unnecessary test.” I had to beg for the two unnecessary biopsies I’ve had and was warned that they would hurt a lot. The second one REALLY did! In fact the spot where it was done still pains from time to time which makes me worry about it even more. So I guess I didn’t do myself any great favor there.
So far so good sans HMO! I think you and Lacy are right, that it is perhaps the better option. For me, this does mean ALL new doctors. Late last year I moved from California back to the Northeast, so this is just one of many big changes going on in my life right now. I’m currently getting my benefits through cobra and am hoping I don’t have to go through this again when I finally find a job out here.
Aahh! It will be good to be working again. It will undoubtedly help get my mind away from all that ails me, although, I’m sure it will have a negative impact on my blogging activities : )
Sorry...I forgot to mention that I don't remember where the picture came from. It is one of many images loaded into my slideshow screen saver several years ago.
I'm a Kaiser kid. My heart is with the HMO's.
I'm also switching health care providers. Usually I'm scared of change, but I'm hoping to get a mammogram out of this switch.
BTW - That picture is awesome.
Post a Comment