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Saturday, September 6, 2008

Red Tape Runaround

In June, I was told I would need two surgeries.
The first one was for kidney stones. I called, I scheduled it, I went in, I had it done on July 7, they sent me a bill and I am making payments. All is well.
The second one is for hyperparathyroidism and it is what CAUSED the kidney stones. It also causes a lot of other crappy symptoms like constant fatigue, joint pain, mental confusion, and so on. It is the most important of the two.
So has it been scheduled?
No.
Have I been trying to get it scheduled?
YES.
For how long?
More than a month.
Have I gotten anywhere?
NO, NO, NO, NO.
When you are non-insured, this hospital insists that you go through their financial procedure. This is no simple thing. They want more papers and information than the IRS did when we worked out a payment plan with them. They are making it SO HARD. It will take me hours to get this info together. And then, I am pretty sure they will reject me anyway. Our income will be too high to qualify.
Then what?
According to the hospital, "the doctor will let you know whether or not he will ACCEPT you as a patient anyway."
I simply cannot believe this.
The other hospitals did not do this. Not with my first surgery, nor with my son's surgery several years ago. Instead, they gave me a non-insured discount and then accepted my monthly payments.
Until I get this figured out, I do not get scheduled. So the calcium keeps being leeched out of my bones and yes, increasing the chance of getting kidney stones again. And I still feel like crap.
Do they care?
I think not.
Am I bummed?
You bet your . . . . . (fill in the blank with your preferred word).

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Contact Dr. Norman, he operates out of Tampa General Hospital. I had my parathyroid surgery there, it was a piece of cake.

WritingGoddess said...

Thanks . . anonymous. . however, I'm in Portland, Oregon--a long, long way from Tampa. Appreciate your stopping by though.

Unknown said...

What does your doctor say?? Is there another hospital you can go too?

Man, I hope this gets straightened out for you soon!!

Love ya,
Bev