Health care horror
Man, have I been neglecting this thing! I have been super busy, but I have to say, I miss writing.
I'd like to write about my latest Callen-Lorde experience and my new GP (my old one moved), but I think I'm going to spend that precious half and hour I've allotted to something other than school work to write him directly. But I'm still slightly unsure of how to approach this issue, the issue being Doctors Who Don't Understand Poor People.
Long story short, I go in, he demands a bunch of lab work which he later states I "didn't really need, but oh well!" (after I get slammed with a $100 bill). When I tell him that I never come in because the lab work they order causes me so much financial hardship, he says "Well, why don't you have insurance?? Unless you have money, you should qualify!"
I've tried public health programs. I've called government agencies, waited in line in various offices, talked to a number of social workers. I've dealt directly with the clinic that I go to (that he now works at), and had them call numerous offices on my behalf. No dice. Making $390 a week in unemployment can get me at best, a $200 a month health care plan that the city partially subsidizes, but still requires me to pay $200 a month, which is simply out of the question. He refuses to take this for an answer, saying "oh, well, you must have money. Do you get money from your parents?" He then demands that I book a bunch of follow up appointments with the GYN, the dentist, and him, which will inevitably lead to lab work, lab work I most likely don't need and definitely cannot afford.
There is a very public debate going on about this very issue. Millions of Americans are poor enough to worry about how they're going to pay their rent and feed their families but deemed "not poor enough" to receive any assistance with health care. I was told, as a single, childless Brooklyn resident, I have to make UNDER $200 weekly to qualify for Medicaid. Sound absurd? It is! As someone who works full time at a sliding scale LGBT-focused community health center, he should be familiar with this phenomenon.
I'd like to contact him personally with a full list of all the services I've contacted, and a list of how much I make and how much these little "whoopsie, I checked the wrong box on the lab work sheet!" and "hey, you haven't been sexually active in years, but lets check ya for everything anyway" cost me. I'm also trying to come up with a way to communicate that I felt terribly misunderstood and insulted by his insinuating that I didn't have insurance because I thought it was a cute look, or that I'm secretly pulling in piles of disposable income that I'm choosing not to spend on my health, or that I didn't care enough to seek out the services I deserve. Will he read it or care? Will I come off as an overly-sensitive, high maintainence whiner? Would by energy be better spent contacting his superiors? Will it jeopardize the care I receive in the future? I don't know. But damn, if hes giving this run around to all of his lower income, but not low enough for insurance patients (which probably comprises a HUGE chunk), someone has to say something!
Any suggestions?
I'd like to write about my latest Callen-Lorde experience and my new GP (my old one moved), but I think I'm going to spend that precious half and hour I've allotted to something other than school work to write him directly. But I'm still slightly unsure of how to approach this issue, the issue being Doctors Who Don't Understand Poor People.
Long story short, I go in, he demands a bunch of lab work which he later states I "didn't really need, but oh well!" (after I get slammed with a $100 bill). When I tell him that I never come in because the lab work they order causes me so much financial hardship, he says "Well, why don't you have insurance?? Unless you have money, you should qualify!"
I've tried public health programs. I've called government agencies, waited in line in various offices, talked to a number of social workers. I've dealt directly with the clinic that I go to (that he now works at), and had them call numerous offices on my behalf. No dice. Making $390 a week in unemployment can get me at best, a $200 a month health care plan that the city partially subsidizes, but still requires me to pay $200 a month, which is simply out of the question. He refuses to take this for an answer, saying "oh, well, you must have money. Do you get money from your parents?" He then demands that I book a bunch of follow up appointments with the GYN, the dentist, and him, which will inevitably lead to lab work, lab work I most likely don't need and definitely cannot afford.
There is a very public debate going on about this very issue. Millions of Americans are poor enough to worry about how they're going to pay their rent and feed their families but deemed "not poor enough" to receive any assistance with health care. I was told, as a single, childless Brooklyn resident, I have to make UNDER $200 weekly to qualify for Medicaid. Sound absurd? It is! As someone who works full time at a sliding scale LGBT-focused community health center, he should be familiar with this phenomenon.
I'd like to contact him personally with a full list of all the services I've contacted, and a list of how much I make and how much these little "whoopsie, I checked the wrong box on the lab work sheet!" and "hey, you haven't been sexually active in years, but lets check ya for everything anyway" cost me. I'm also trying to come up with a way to communicate that I felt terribly misunderstood and insulted by his insinuating that I didn't have insurance because I thought it was a cute look, or that I'm secretly pulling in piles of disposable income that I'm choosing not to spend on my health, or that I didn't care enough to seek out the services I deserve. Will he read it or care? Will I come off as an overly-sensitive, high maintainence whiner? Would by energy be better spent contacting his superiors? Will it jeopardize the care I receive in the future? I don't know. But damn, if hes giving this run around to all of his lower income, but not low enough for insurance patients (which probably comprises a HUGE chunk), someone has to say something!
Any suggestions?