Why Does It Have to Be So Confusing?!

[xwacky]

My son's nose got hit by a baseball yesterday, hard.  Took him to see his doctor this morning.  The pediatrician ordered an x-ray to make sure nothing is broken.  Fine.  I asked him to write the request for the hospital that is on my insurance's Preferred list.  Makes sense right?

We made our way to the hospital's lab.  Only when checking in, the nurse at the counter told me the doctor didn't write down his diagnosis, and they can't take x-ray without it.  Unfortunately it was around noon and the doctor's office was closed for lunch.  She said we had to come back another time.  This is ridiculous!  I don't want to come back another time.  Why is this so complicated?!  The kid got hit on the nose, his doctor can't make a final diagnose until he sees the x-ray!

After arguing for a few minutes, another nurse relented.  She decided to write down "trauma" as the diagnosis so that they can have the technician take the damn pictures.

Great!

That's when the first nurse took out another piece of paper:  "You do know that although the hospital is on your insurance's preferred list, the x-ray lab isn't, don't you?"

"What?  How come the hospital is preferred, but its lab isn't?!"

"Well, actually the lab is preferred also.  It's just the Radiologist whose going to read the x-ray isn't!"

"Huh?!" #@?!

What am I gonna do at this point?!  Go to a different lab?  There's no guarantee the same situation won't happen again.  So I suck up and paid extra money to get the x-ray taken.

Good thing the doctor confirmed later in the afternoon that nothing is broken.  Hooray!  Really hate to get sick in this country.

Comments

[silwyna.livejournal.com]

This is ridiculous! And I thought our health system was screwed ...

At least your son is all right and nothing's broken. I hope he's not in too much pain.

[(Anonymous)]

oh my stars... how ridiculous. I guess living in a one medical facility town has it's benefits? Glad it wasn't broken, but I'd like to cause some damage to your insurance company~

Laura

[xwacky.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I was relieved his nose wasn't broken. But it does look crooked right now, due to the swelling. Poor kid! However he got over his pain very quickly. The next day, in fact. Kids bounce back so fast!

I'm sure I'm not the first person to complain about the health system in the States. I really DO hate to go to hospitals here, especially the ERs. Very bad experience. And not just once. :(

[xwacky.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's pretty ridiculous how the insurances and hospitals work these days. I'm not even sure which side to blame here, the insurance or the hospital. The sad thing is this hospital is the ONLY hospital in town here. Other facilities are in the next town 20-30 minutes away! *shake head*

[laurie31.livejournal.com]

{{{{X}}}}

Long time, no talk!! Miss you like mad, girl! I'm sorry to hear that Andy got hurt, but thank goodness he's okay and is already on the mend. Don't get me started about the insurance fiasco we've got going in this country. It's really a shame that we can't do any better than this. It's horrible, truly. I see it every day. :(

{{{{more hugs, just cause!}}}}

[xwacky.livejournal.com]

{{{{{HUG}}}}}

Long time in deed! Between RL and my less-than-impressed feeling towards BSG 4.5 so far, I've been neglecting my LJ a lot.

But I've been thinking about you lately. My little guy is about to start Spring Break, and we've been planning a trip to Yosemite and/or Bear Valley for skiing. This reminds me the great time we had at Yosemite last year. Miss you mad too! I hope we get to see each other again this year too. :b

Thanks for the hugs. The little dude is doing much better now. I'm just glad it didn't put him off of baseball. He loves it now! *g*

Now I need go and watch last week's episode, and maybe I'll like it better and write something about it, heh...