![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Medical update and insurance comment
Mar. 23rd, 2004 01:10 pmIt turns out that I did break a couple of ribs, which explains why the pain isn't going away. The baseline pain is a constant ache, though the occasional spikes of pain when I move the wrong way are not as excruciating as they were last week.
The doctor is going to send me a prescription for better drugs (oxycodone vs. codeine). Because it's a narcotic, she can't call the prescription in to my local pharmacy, so my options are to wait for tomorrow's mail or drive 20 minutes to pick it up. This isn't really her fault; I picked this clinic when I lived much closer, and the fact that I moved south and the clinic stayed put is just a fact of life.
In the meantime, I'm more mobile than I was, but I can't seem to get comfortable no matter what I do.
Now for a response to![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
papersky's comment about the sad state of healthcare in the United States. In fact, while I have no wish to deny there are problems and can in fact cite a bunch of examples, my situation isn't really appropriate to use as a stick to beat on that particular drum. I have a full-time job, and excellent coverage through that job. I have a choice of whether I want HMO-type coverage that covers more within their system, or a plan that lets me choose whichever provider I want but only pays 80% until some maximum amount is reached. (I chose the first; it seemed a no-brainer for my situation.)
While I was snarled up in bureacracy for a while, the whole deal took less than two hours. If I had really wanted to force the issue, I could have driven to the clinic, and I'm reasonably certain they would have seen me soon and worried about the money later. As it was, once the tangle was cleared, I had an appointment 40 minutes later, and was back home again two hours after that with drugs and having been X-rayed.
The doctor is going to send me a prescription for better drugs (oxycodone vs. codeine). Because it's a narcotic, she can't call the prescription in to my local pharmacy, so my options are to wait for tomorrow's mail or drive 20 minutes to pick it up. This isn't really her fault; I picked this clinic when I lived much closer, and the fact that I moved south and the clinic stayed put is just a fact of life.
In the meantime, I'm more mobile than I was, but I can't seem to get comfortable no matter what I do.
Now for a response to
papersky's comment about the sad state of healthcare in the United States. In fact, while I have no wish to deny there are problems and can in fact cite a bunch of examples, my situation isn't really appropriate to use as a stick to beat on that particular drum. I have a full-time job, and excellent coverage through that job. I have a choice of whether I want HMO-type coverage that covers more within their system, or a plan that lets me choose whichever provider I want but only pays 80% until some maximum amount is reached. (I chose the first; it seemed a no-brainer for my situation.)While I was snarled up in bureacracy for a while, the whole deal took less than two hours. If I had really wanted to force the issue, I could have driven to the clinic, and I'm reasonably certain they would have seen me soon and worried about the money later. As it was, once the tangle was cleared, I had an appointment 40 minutes later, and was back home again two hours after that with drugs and having been X-rayed.
