So I have an ulcer. I dry heave at least once a day and I haven’t eaten in 21 days. (Please do not give me advice, I hate it, I don’t want medical advice from people over the internet. At best, if you do, I’ll respond with a “thanks.”)
I’m in a somewhat smaller town, not really small, about 80,000 people maybe. There is exactly one gastroenterologist in this town. I went to him when I hadn’t eaten in 6 days. For a $50 copay, he said to take some Mylanta along with the Protonix I was already taking and call him in two weeks if I wasn’t better. So I call him yesterday. I talk to the nurse. I tell her all my symptoms, none of which have changed. She sounds very concerned.
I hear nothing all day. This morning, I call again. The doctor hasn’t even gotten to my information. So the nurse sends a message that I called again, which he probably also won’t see.
I have tried to get a second opinion, or just another prescription for something, but there is not a single gastroenterologist within a 90 minute drive that would see me within three months. I’m pretty sure if I don’t eat for three months, I’ll be pretty dead. I mean, I’m living on Ensure and Gatorade, but I doubt that will get me to three more months.
Oh, and this is the second time this has happened. The first time, I had to take a bunch of tests like a CT scan and an X-Ray and a blood panel and they found nothing. I had a scheduled colonoscopy anyway, so they just went down my throat as well and that’s when they found the ulcer. No one even suggested an ulcer before that.
Why am I saying all of this? I’m not even complaining about all of this. I’m complaining about the fact that this has cost me almost $2000 already and I feel lucky because I have good insurance. I’m not poor, but I don’t really have $2000 to spare. I’m paying it off in installments, but god damn, I have to pay all of this money and they have stopped even giving a shit about me.
What would someone in my position without insurance even do? Die? That’s what conservatives fucking want.
We need universal healthcare and a complete overhaul of the healthcare system now.
And any time you hear someone complain about how long a wait you have in Canada or the UK to see someone to help you and how America has the best healthcare system in the world and how people from other countries come here for treatment, send them to this post before telling them to get fucked.
TL;DR No one gives a shit about you in American healthcare except maybe the nurses and all they do is suck money out of your bank account.
My gastroenterologist story:
Chronic GERD. Talk to family doctor, who refers me to a gastroenterologist (one that is “in network” for my insurance"). My insurance is from my wife’s job, who works at a hospital, which you’d think was good. More on this tidbit later.
Go to Gastro doctor (took 2 months to get in), recommends an Endoscopy, which is scheduled for 1 month later. Initial visit is covered (mostly/kind-of) by insurance.
One day before Endoscopy, get a call saying my insurance won’t cover the procedure there, and I’d have to pay out-of-pocket if I proceed ($5k estimate). I say no thank you.
I call insurance company about better location, and am referred to another gastroenterologist. I tried to just get an Endoscopy at new location, but they refused to do so with an Gastro doctor visit with THEIR doctors. I schedule visit at new office (1 month to get in).
Go to NEW Gastro doctor, recommends an Endoscopy, which is scheduled for 1 month later. Visit is covered (mostly/kind-f) by insurance.
One day before Endoscopy, get a call saying my insurance won’t cover the procedure there, and I’d have to pay out-of-pocket if I proceed. I say WTF. Turns out the Insurance company recommended me to a Doctor who was In Network, but their procedure location is NOT in network.
Apparently, despite having a PPO insurance, there is “In Network” and there’s “in IN network”, since my insurance is through my wife’s hospital plan. I have to have the procedure at an official hospital location that is part of my wife’s hospital network.
I schedule an endoscopy at a 3rd location (1 month out again). Finally get an Endoscopy completed.
From initial referral to Gastro, until completion of Endoscopy, was 6 months. This was on supposedly good insurance (which was obviously a lie). We don’t have that insurance anymore.
This kind of thing happens all too often. Going in for a surgery that your insurance will cover? Oops, we forgot to mention that the anesthesiologist is actually out of network, so you’ll have to pay out of pocket for that part.
Did you ever figure out what the problem was? I have a very similar issue and a very similar story though the endoscopy just said yeah you got GERD bro lol and I’ve been taking meds that barely work ever since
Nope. The Endoscopy results said: “Evidence of Gerd present”, and gave me a prescription, that kind of works (sometimes).
Oh god that’s so frustrating
I take the prescription (pantoprozole) as directed each morning, and then a Pepcid in the evening, if I happen to eat something that causes trouble. That more-or-less seems to work for me.
Our prescriptions are pretty much the same! Panto morning and dinner time, pepcid before bed. Stay away from triggers or I’ll pay for it regardless if I take medicine or not