Posted on 03/22/2013 12:52:54 PM PDT by My Favorite Headache
Deep breath.
I am going to write this in the calmest way possible. I am not here to air out dirty laundry but just like my last post back in Jan about Obamacare and law enforcement officials and doctors...this one leaps another level.
I went to a doctor this morning for a follow up to an appointment I went to at the end of January. During my last appointment other than just getting some prescriptions refilled we went over some MRI results and talked about a different course of action regarding an injury.
This morning I show up for a follow up to see how the new scripts are going and what not...I get to the front desk and the doctor's assistant says to me "You have an outstanding balance of $75.00", I said no that is impossible...I pay everything up front for my appointments. I pay cash up front for any visit.
Then she lays it on me.
"Your doctor went 13 minutes over time last visit and you owe $75.00 for it."
I said like hell I do...I paid for a full visit last time like I do every time and why should I suddenly pay more?
Quote "As of January..and the change to the medical laws and rules and the "Affordable Health Care Act", we have to by law charge after 15 minutes for a separate appointment because the first 15 minutes are considered "Prescription Recheck". If anything goes over the 15 minutes it becomes "Therapeutic Visit". If the doctor does not account for his time with you he will be fined $600.00 and he must account for every single thing that goes on behind that door."
She then puts a 2013 medical code book and shows me that there were hundreds of pages of code they were still learning and that they were told to expect a new bigger book in December.
I was furious at the fact that there was no notice of this anywhere and why in the hell am I just being told this now and not when I left the office the last time?
The assistant said "The notices are on the door over there".......................the door to a closet that nobody reads really because it had about 17 pieces of different things written in various sized print. By law all the office has to do is post it but not tell the patients about it.
They have stopped accepting new patients..FOREVER. They have had to close another office they had 65 miles away because since the Newton shootings...there are landlords that do not want to have anything from neurologists to psychologists to psychiatrists (anything brain related) in their building in case "one of them snaps".
I was told to expect it to become much, much, much worse and that people are just not showing up for appointments any longer.
Not that it matters but this was for a neurologist who sees me for a fall from a 2 story house.
My employer doesn't offer health insurance...they can't afford to. So I am compensated more to make up for what they can as far as me handling my own medical care.
A $75.00 extra fee. If he didn't report it he would be brought up for medical fraud and the $600.00 fine would put him on a probation.
I hate typing about my own personal life like this but you know what...this is the kind of thing that needs to be known. My doctor said his hands are tied. He tries every route he can to avoid billing cash patients more and tries to do a discount but has been warned if he does that then he will be charged with fraud as well. That is why he stopped seeing new patients so he won't be shopped.
He said psychiatrists and psychologists are going through some serious problems right now and they are completely turning all cash only. No insurance at all.
My venting is over.
My doctor did the same thing .. sending me for a lot of wellness type tests - that my insurance already paid for on a regular basis.
My doctor said he wanted to build a timeline to show that I didn’t have any major issues at the time ObamaCare went into effect.
I’m not sure why that matters, but he seemed to feel it was imperative that I have it done. I think I need to get one of those books about ObamaCare .. and try to find out if I will be getting any care at all.
I don’t take any prescription meds, and I usually see my doctor a couple of times a year; unless I get a sinus infection.
Glad to hear your Dad is doing okay.
I'm perfectly aware of the whole doctor/hospital bill thing.
I wasn't talking about bills, though. Doctors will go underground to avoid the gov't regulations/fees/etc.
Doctors who are retiring are remembering a lifetime of career stress brought on by people who resented the "rich doctor" and spitefully enjoyed the misery that the malpractice situation brought to doctors' families.
Now they are picturing the families of lawyers and plaintiffs and spiteful public who won't have the doctor to kick around anymore...and won't have medical care, period. Kidney stone? Pain? Not my problem.
Hey, you lawyers who sued OBs out of business....go squat in the pasture like Senator Squaw Warren to have your babies. No epidurals for YOU.
You're wrong. There's a non-financial reason most go into medicine.
Maybe the doctors you know so much better than I are vets? Animal docs? People complain that their vets are so much more simple and fair in price than MDs. To which I reply, "How many vets malpractices lawyers do you know who make enough money to run for president?"
(like John Edwards)
that sounds about right by my calculation too...
If i get major illness just dig a hole and i]ll drop into it.
I dont want to bankrupt my children taking care of me.
I already told them not only would I want them to pull the plug, but slam a couple of dozen doses of morphine into the IV drip so I go out having some fun
You’re welcome.
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