Yesterday I got bad medical news. Not anything wrong with me, well not yet. But I found out, through a referral system, that my current doctors, are not in my PPO. So now, with a medical follow up that I really need to have done ASAP, I also need to find doctors within my PPO. I know I should have researched it myself more, but I was under the impression that a reputable clinic of doctors would alert you that you were looking outside your network, so you could make an educated decision regarding weather or not you wanted to spend twice the amount for care. And in fact they apologized and said that this never should have happened, me getting started with new doctors without that information. My paranoid mind screams at me, “They will do ANYTHING for a buck!” But I know this is not the case. It may be criminal if intentional, but its not. Just like not being able to change carriers during closed enrollment, seems criminal, “ANYTHING for a BUCK!” It's not either. Just business. LOL. Didn’t the mafia use that as an excuse in Godfather for killing people…it's not personal its business?
I have found a hospital in my area that is within my PPO and will be contacting them on Monday morning to see if I can get in to see someone regarding my follow up, second opinion appointment. Along with the Endodontist for my root canal. Thats right. My dentist referred me to a specialist for my root canal as two of the canals are clogged with calcium and they need to be unblocked or the root canal will always bring me pain and won’t be performed correctly. I’m apparently all about specialists these days. Like my daughter, I can’t just have something wrong that a regular MD or Internists can handle without a second opinion in their field.
Keep in mind, like most of you, I have a $5000 deductible on my health care, AND my dental insurance doesn’t cover root canals. YAY. WTF do I pay for insurance for if it doesn’t cover everything? “ANYTHING….for a BUCK!” Add to that I still owe Uncle Sam, which I am paying first and by some miracle, my dentist is very ok with this. WOW. And he didn’t charge me anything for the root canal work he’s done so far, only to discover that he can’t finish it. Nice guys are out there. Perhaps I should have wished for a nice guy to fall in love with instead of just a nice guy. Turns out my nice guy is my dentist. And my pocket book will benefit. For now. I’m sure this is going to be so expensive that I will be paying it off for a long long time. But my taxes must come first. And saving for next year and every year as well. I think this along with the medical issue that I’m not prepared to discuss here yet, is a test to see how tightly I can budget. How much more can I squeeze out of my paycheck to cover medical? Well there was another test for Osteoporosis, that she wanted me to get, but since that’s not life threatening, and an expensive Xray, I’m not getting it yet. Even if the new doctor thinks I should, and I’ll tell her why. Maybe there is another option for preventative treatment of a perhaps issue. I need to focus on the life threatening issues or pain issues first. Like the tooth.
I hate financial worries. And it seems like my life has been plagued with them for my entire life. I hate having to look at the price tag of something, of everything. Especially food, and things we need to survive. I should be trying to focus all my energy on thinking positive so the diagnosis is not life threatening, but having been though a cancer scare before, (there I said it) and been alright, I’m finding that I’m not as scared this time about that, and more worried about the cost. You see the last time this happened I was on state medical care, so I had to pay nothing for treatment. And I was employed then too. But like most of you made poverty level income. Now I make just above that, and have to afford my own insurance. Which sucks really. But doesn’t at the same time. And I get paid in cash so I could lie and say I don’t make anything and still get a free ride. “ANYTHING for a buck?” But how would I live with myself? And how could I prove how I live? There is so much to living a life of crime that I just don’t understand how to do. And I guess in the end, that’s a very good thing too.
Cheers
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