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Friday, August 21, 2009

This is why we need a government insurance option--and badly

I received this email, this morning, from my sister. It's from a friend of hers.

This is the insane, financially and morally bankrupt "health care system" the American people are subject to and people defend.

It's insane.

It's irresponsible.

It's heartless.

It's health care for the corporation.

It's indefensible.

(Posted with no corrections).

"Hey everyone, if i could afford it i would post my insurance billing statement in the local newspapers. As most of you know, i've had two cancer surgeries in the last two months....both at the wonderful CTCA in Tulsa, Ok. Although their financial dept. has bent over backward to help us, i cannot say the same for our local "preferred" providers.
Julys surgery involved over twenty staples in my abdomen. So that i could return home a few days after the surgery they gave my daughter a staple remover so it could be done at home. Well....it turned out to be too painful. My first call was to my family doctor who said they would just give me a sedative because they didn't have numbing gel. i stated i didn't want a sedative. i then went to "urgent care" owned also by Heartland Health System in St. Joseph. At first they refused me care. When i reminded them that it was not legal to turn me away they let me see a doctor. He told me he could not remove the staples that a surgeon would have to do it. By the way, a surgeon, also from Heartland, that had done previous work on me refused to take the staples=2
0out because "he did not put them in". SO...finally i went to the E.R. at Heartland. A nice Nurse Practioner and a sweet young nurse put numbing gel on my staples and pulled them out after about fifteen minutes. i was there less than an hour. Here's the kicker. They charged my
insurance company THREE THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED DOLLARS!!!!! Our insurance paid TWO THOUSAND EIGHT HUNDRED!!! for something the CTCA thought our seventeen year old daughter could do at home! WHO says our medical system does not need reform?!?!?!?"


I couldn't have said it better myself.

Have a great weekend, y'all.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

This makes me so angry I can hardly stand it. I just can't understand these people in these town hall meeting screaming in defense of the current system. I know of dozens of stories like these. Have these defenders of the status quo never looked at a bill they got from the hospital? It's hopeless.

Mo Rage said...

Thanks for your comment. You know I agree. It is truly maddening.