Single Payer
Oct. 29th, 2013 12:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rinueI would like to have a single-payer health system, and also ombudsmen I could sic on people. Absent this, I would like to be able to sic my insurer on people. Given the system in which I find myself, I guess you could say I want team-based medical care in which I also have a competing team of lawyers who prepared to be outraged on my behalf. It seems reasonable that both the team of doctors and the team of lawyers should work for me, because I am the one paying all of the money. A lot of money. For my very good health insurance. (You can argue that my employer is paying half, but my employer is paying less than half, and also my employer is paying that portion of my health insurance to compensate me. It is part of my pay package. Ergo I am the one putting in the money; I'm just doing it before I see my paycheck, and am for some reason not taxed on it.)
What I mean is this: I should not ever be billed for the same office visit twice, as though I'm going to forget that I didn't go to two offices at the same time on the same day at two different hospitals. It is transparent that the doctor in question didn't file her paperwork correctly with my insurance company, or with the hospital I actually visited, and is therefore trying to get the extra money from me months later for her error, because I am the "little guy" who will presumably be easier to roll over than the hospital or the insurance company. Except no, I am the person who hangs around with auditors and can tell at a glance when numbers line up too conveniently. And, critically, am not an idiot.
It is not clear at this point how many people I will have to annoy to get this fixed, whether it is enough to call the doctor and say "nope, I'm on to you. Suck it," or whether I have to involve the insurance company, the hospital board (who I know socially), state representatives (who I know socially), or people at the federal level (who somewhat know me). Calls can't be made until tomorrow, when I have a 12.5 hour workday during which I can't make calls. So realistically until Wednesday. When I also have better stuff to do. This leaves aside my sense of injustice, the idea that this kind of tomfoolery would be allowed to stand if the bill happened to go to someone less mathy or connected or comfortably entitled - or somebody, for instance, sick enough not to have a lot of energy.
I wanted to be asleep an hour ago. Two hours ago. Instead I'm riled up by stupidness. And it is the stupidness that riles me. Not just the buck-passing, although I hate that. But I don't understand why it's too much to ask that people do their jobs correctly. I do my job correctly. I do my job extremely well. On the rare occasions I mess up, I fix it, at my own cost. When other people mess up, I also fix it. Because it's on my watch. I'm not unique in that. An extraordinary number of people work harder than they're required to, far beyond what they're paid for, simply in order to do a good job. Out of a sense of pride. Out of a sense of community and social value. As a fight against entropy.
We are civilization. It's terribly disappointing when somebody who should be one of our members fails to hold the line. You're a doctor. You've already been paid $800 to be in a room for 20 minutes. You didn't even have to touch anybody; you looked at a screen. You're the one who picked the time and place and screen. You are now trying to get another $125 by pretending it happened simultaneously at a second hospital. It's embarrassing. Pull yourself together.
What I mean is this: I should not ever be billed for the same office visit twice, as though I'm going to forget that I didn't go to two offices at the same time on the same day at two different hospitals. It is transparent that the doctor in question didn't file her paperwork correctly with my insurance company, or with the hospital I actually visited, and is therefore trying to get the extra money from me months later for her error, because I am the "little guy" who will presumably be easier to roll over than the hospital or the insurance company. Except no, I am the person who hangs around with auditors and can tell at a glance when numbers line up too conveniently. And, critically, am not an idiot.
It is not clear at this point how many people I will have to annoy to get this fixed, whether it is enough to call the doctor and say "nope, I'm on to you. Suck it," or whether I have to involve the insurance company, the hospital board (who I know socially), state representatives (who I know socially), or people at the federal level (who somewhat know me). Calls can't be made until tomorrow, when I have a 12.5 hour workday during which I can't make calls. So realistically until Wednesday. When I also have better stuff to do. This leaves aside my sense of injustice, the idea that this kind of tomfoolery would be allowed to stand if the bill happened to go to someone less mathy or connected or comfortably entitled - or somebody, for instance, sick enough not to have a lot of energy.
I wanted to be asleep an hour ago. Two hours ago. Instead I'm riled up by stupidness. And it is the stupidness that riles me. Not just the buck-passing, although I hate that. But I don't understand why it's too much to ask that people do their jobs correctly. I do my job correctly. I do my job extremely well. On the rare occasions I mess up, I fix it, at my own cost. When other people mess up, I also fix it. Because it's on my watch. I'm not unique in that. An extraordinary number of people work harder than they're required to, far beyond what they're paid for, simply in order to do a good job. Out of a sense of pride. Out of a sense of community and social value. As a fight against entropy.
We are civilization. It's terribly disappointing when somebody who should be one of our members fails to hold the line. You're a doctor. You've already been paid $800 to be in a room for 20 minutes. You didn't even have to touch anybody; you looked at a screen. You're the one who picked the time and place and screen. You are now trying to get another $125 by pretending it happened simultaneously at a second hospital. It's embarrassing. Pull yourself together.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-11-03 08:38 am (UTC)Somewhat OT, each time I scan past this on my friendspage, I keep reading "Single Prayer system", causing me to do a double take and look again.
single prayer system
Date: 2013-11-03 02:13 pm (UTC)Re: single prayer system
Date: 2013-11-03 11:29 pm (UTC)