Posted on 01/10/2014 6:31:12 PM PST by cableguymn
Go easy on me. I hope "chat" was a good place for a vanity.
So, The other night I woke up with a killer pain in my chest. Having prior heart troubles and dealing with high blood pressure I thought the worst.
Jetted off to the hospital with the wife (we are a 20 minute drive and figured that is where the ambulance was stationed. there was one there) and got in the door, told um chest pains and right in to a room I went. Did vitals, ekg, blood drawn and all that. Not a heart attack. Given a GI cocktail (yuck) and was told it was a full house and it'd be a while.
With the pain down from "OMG I am gonna die!" to "damn this hurts" I settled in for what I figured would be a hell of a wait. Few minutes go by and the admitting girl shows up. We give her the insurance card (nope, not on zero care ;) ) and she clicks away at her computer. Nope, can't verify it here, lets try this site.. Nope.. Hmm maybe this one..
Finely, she gets it verified. Asks about my co-pay and says it does not really matter because they would see me regardless in the ER. I said if you can take plastic, I'll pay it right now. So I did.
As she is leaving, the DR comes in. Apparently this hospitals idea of a long wait is about 10 minutes ;) Asks me a few questions about where it hurts (right where you'd give me CPR as I point to the area) and he said hmm.. pushes a bit right under my right rub cage and I about pop out of bed..
"I'll bet it's your gallbladder" he says.. Gives me something through the IV for pain. "lets see what the blood tests show". He's back 15 minutes later. He says since my blood is ok, the pain is down to the point where it's under control (feels like a bee sting) that i should make an appointment with my PC doctor asap. Total time spent in a "packed" er was about 1.25 hours.
On the way out we stop at the admitting desk and ask if they can make the appointment. I get the first appointment that morning. 7 am.
Go home, take a little nap..
long story short. By 10 AM after a ultrasound, I am told the gallbladder has to go. Looks like I go under the knife first part of next week.
So far, so good, there was a TON of "new" paperwork to fill out, much of it to do with HIPPA (and likely the waving there of for the Zero admin) but my experience at the hospital was top notch. I figured it would be but with a hell of a paperwork problem due to my insurance company changing my plan completely, and the fact that the ink was still wet on my new card.
I think this was a great time to get my gallbladder out, sadly, in 2-5 years, I'd probably die waiting my turn in line.
Great testimonial to what will surely be a bygone era in a generation. So glad to hear you’re ok, cableguymn. Hope the gall bladder removal and recoup goes well.
I spent EIGHTEEN HOURS at the VA Medical Center emergency room last year and still hadn’t seen a doctor when I finally gave up and left. But it didn’t “cost” me anything. so there’s that...
Good luck with your gall bladder surgery. Had same @ 2-3 years ago.
I hope FReepers all file reports of their experiences post-Obamacare. So far I’ve only seen my eye doc and no problems, just $5 higher co-pay.
I'm down with that. Just wait until we get Socialized Single payer Health Care and check the wait times.
publik skools...
Thank you word police for checking in ;)
First of all: are you still alive?
I wish mine was only 5 bucks. It doubled. I guess my wallet wished this had happened a few weeks ago.
200 bucks is what I paid.
That was bad taste on my part...I failed to read the rest of the article. Wishing you a long and happy life.
Yes. I am. Like I said. the medical care was top notch.
was that yours that got deleted? (#4)
ya, it was poor taste, but I have thick skin and I did fire a joke back at ya ;)
I guess waving your credit card around might have helped.
My sweetie’s had a couple of emergencies this past year - chest pain (no problems detected) & then kidney stones. Also had surgery to remove plaque from a carotid artery. We have a pretty good hospital here & everything went well. No knowing what will happen in the future, though.
I hope your surgery goes well!
lol - I had it coming....
At least we can still be FRiends.
After hanging out in the ER waiting room for ~4 hr, I went home, slept and went back in the morning. After hanging out most of that day's daytime, a CT scan said: Yep.
The surgery crew asked me why I waited so long....
What state/city?
With the coming decline in medical care, people ought to start thinking about moving to less populated cities with populations of 15-20,000 if they want a fighting chance.
We have been having to deal with healthcare a lot this year. My husband had a kidney stone on New Year’s day. He spent New Year’s day in Urgent care, had surgery last Friday, and then his blood pressure spiked up yesterday and had to go to the emergency room.
Really, not noticing any changes, except that we will have a huge bill!
He’s been seen quickly and been well taken care of. We did like the Urgent Care better than the emergency room.
So?
That was more the experience I was expecting.
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