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.
On the other hand, there is an angry and vindictive part of me that sees all the abuse that hospitals and ERs receive…and I'd like to see those hospitals threaten to shut down their ERs entirely. They could, you know. You'd be surprised. There is no law that says a hospital has to have an ER.
Particularly for lawyers. They shouldn't be allowed to go to ERs or hospitals, at all.
If I tell you, you all will move here ;)
Fairview Hospitals. Wyoming MN.
Within 90 minutes I had a CT scan, complete bloodwork and relief from the head pain.
No meningitis, btw just an insanely bad headache that lasted days.
Incidentally, my hubby had his gall bladder out in August. Seemed incredibly painful ( the attack). Good luck to you!
Thankfully, our hospital is a one stop shop. Clinic, Urgent Care and Emergency all in one building.
My story (well, my hubby’s story):
On Monday, he called me at work and said he didn’t feel well and needed to go to the hospital. He has A-Fib. His heart was racing like crazy and he was dizzy and weak. I rushed him to the ER. He was taken in immediately and put on an IV drip to try to get the heart rate down. They did not ask for insurance info until he was settled and hooked up. He presented insurance cards (not O-care here either). After a relatively short time in the ER, he was transferred upstairs to a room where they kept him under observation overnight until he heartbeat was normal. They kept him two more days to get him acclimated to a medication that would control the A-Fib, and was released Thursday. The nurses were wonderful, so were the doctors - and everybody else there who we had contact with.
I wonder how long before this will be a thing of the past?
ER’s are closing in California if I am not mistaken.
As long as the law says you have to treat everyone that makes it to the door. ER’s will close if it costs the hospital to much.
I also had chest pain last February that similarly caused me to go to the hospital ER. My private health care plan through my wife's employer paid almost 90% of the nearly $12,000 bill which included an overnight hospital stay and stress test in addition to my ER visit.
Good for you, and good luck.
Looks like the population is about 8,000.
The people in the big cities are doomed.
Correct, we are insured through U-Care.
yes, its thinly populated around here, but if you google around a bit, it’s not easy to find another ER (I live west of the hospital). I think the next closest one to me is Cambridge followed by Coon Rapids but that one is metro and known for “sit down and Helen Waite will see you..”
We are not far from the metro area. I bet by the time I am dead this area will be metro.
I have a friend in Georgia who just had surgery this week..
her operation was planned since last month..
she thought everything would be covered..
but when she got to the hospital she was told she could not have one of the necessary procedures because she was “too old” shes in her late 60s...not because it was dangerous due to her age but because of her age..
then she didn’t stay in hospital as long as she was suppose too..and is home already today...
and when she was getting her prescription filled when she left, she found out that she would now have too paid $200+ for one medicine that was previously free or not costly..a medicine she will need for the next few months as she recovers..
Since she had insurance and was already getting medical treatment for cancer before ObamaCare she did get a lot paid for but not what she should have..
My friend is a Conservative and when I talked to her on the phone today she said “ObamaCare”
When we had discussed last month about whether her insurance would still cover in January what she knew it to cover in Dec 2013..she was confident that it would..
this is a patriotic American lady who has worked her whole adult life and paid taxes and didn’t vote for Obama...
These Americans are the ones I am sad for ..the ones caught in this ghastly trap through no fault of their own..
the Obama voters called this down on themselves and unfortunately also my friend...
If my friend had that operation just last week it would have been different for her...
Google “gall bladder flush”. Follow the instructions. You can get rid of gallstones without losing your gall bladder. PM me if you need additional info.
Gall bladder is pretty easy stuff these days with the golf ball retriever.
When I had mine yanked in ‘79, it was a bit more cutting.
Good luck, I never spent even 10 seconds missing mine after they took it out.
I was in our local Army Hospital yesterday picking up a prescription for my husband. I stopped and ssked to schedule an appointment for the optomotrist. She made an appointment for me for this morning. Appointment was right on time, very thorough exam, new glasses on order.
Sorry about the spelling. My eyes are still dilated.
The military system and the veterans affairs system aren’t the same, in any way, shape or form.
I took my elderly mother to see an internist last week — first appointment with him in over a year. I was really surprised she wasn’t asked to fill out any of the new paperwork or even asked the scripted questions. Just the normal diagnosis and prescription. In short, nothing changed from last time. They will bill the co-payment.
Whenever I make a co-pay I get a refund check back for that amount in a month. I have no idea why, but I don’t want to ask.
Is your friend in Georgia on Medicare as would often be the case for a person in her late 60s? Curious whether she has a Medicare Advantage Plan or Medigap Plan, and Part D. Hard to make much sense of the anecdote without that info. Be interesting to know the denied procedure as well but I realize that is HIPAA material.
Do you have a secondary insurance policy?
Yes indeed: what a difference a week makes. I went through triple bypass surgery on Dec. 23rd, 2013.
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