Yeah, this is about me. But it's also about most Americans.
So day before yesterday I go to a cardiologist, because with my family history it seemed like a good idea to me and my neurologist. So I drive all the way down to Westerly, and the cardiologist (who is also my mom's cardiologist) says that except for a teeny bit wonky EKG that he and my primary doc both think is not a problem, everything looks good. He was, however, worried about my family history (mom's had a bypass, pacemaker, stent; her mother died from a heart attack, my paternal grandmother died of congestive heart failure, paternal grandfather of a heart attack, etc., etc.).
So he orders a nuclear stress test, to get a baseline and to catch anything he might have missed. And he says if my insurance company won't cover the nuclear version, he'd give me a lesser test that they would cover. Which was fine with me, and I made my appointment for next week. Well. I go to pay and to check about which test my insurance will cover, and, whoops. My insurance won't cover any test at all. I don't quite understand why I was officially refused, but apparently it was something like I wasn't sick enough. The test costs three thousand dollars without insurance.
Now. My insurance used to be Healthmate Coast-to-Coast, but Care New England apparently had a spat with Blue Cross about what patients they'd cover, and threw them out and got us Tufts, whose plans suck. Well. It seems that they've kissed and made up, because as of Jan. 1, I can have Healthmate again. The problem is, now I have to wait until January to find out if my DNA is turning on any switches in my body. And if Healthmate doesn't cover it, I may have to wait until I'm symptomatic before any tests are done.
The next day I went to a rally.
Here's a message for the Obama is Che Guevarra AND Hitler reincarnated crowd: When you're lying about American healthcare reform, DO NOT TALK TO ME ABOUT WAIT TIMES, ASSHATS.
So day before yesterday I go to a cardiologist, because with my family history it seemed like a good idea to me and my neurologist. So I drive all the way down to Westerly, and the cardiologist (who is also my mom's cardiologist) says that except for a teeny bit wonky EKG that he and my primary doc both think is not a problem, everything looks good. He was, however, worried about my family history (mom's had a bypass, pacemaker, stent; her mother died from a heart attack, my paternal grandmother died of congestive heart failure, paternal grandfather of a heart attack, etc., etc.).
So he orders a nuclear stress test, to get a baseline and to catch anything he might have missed. And he says if my insurance company won't cover the nuclear version, he'd give me a lesser test that they would cover. Which was fine with me, and I made my appointment for next week. Well. I go to pay and to check about which test my insurance will cover, and, whoops. My insurance won't cover any test at all. I don't quite understand why I was officially refused, but apparently it was something like I wasn't sick enough. The test costs three thousand dollars without insurance.
Now. My insurance used to be Healthmate Coast-to-Coast, but Care New England apparently had a spat with Blue Cross about what patients they'd cover, and threw them out and got us Tufts, whose plans suck. Well. It seems that they've kissed and made up, because as of Jan. 1, I can have Healthmate again. The problem is, now I have to wait until January to find out if my DNA is turning on any switches in my body. And if Healthmate doesn't cover it, I may have to wait until I'm symptomatic before any tests are done.
The next day I went to a rally.
Here's a message for the Obama is Che Guevarra AND Hitler reincarnated crowd: When you're lying about American healthcare reform, DO NOT TALK TO ME ABOUT WAIT TIMES, ASSHATS.