Time For A Come To Jesus Talk With My PCP...

[ralerin]

(not my illegal drugs you pervs, my primary care practitioner!)

For 5 days I've been having various allergy and asthma attacks (shortness of breath, coughing, itchy red hives) so yesterday I had had enough and decided to call my doctor and I wanted them to look at a different rash I've had for awhile that I think is a fungal infection. Now, my doctor had recently moved from the tiny, crammed offices near my house to a very large, spacious office downtown. In the past, with allergies, my doctor would have said, "Yes, please come in at x time and we will see you then!" plopped me on a nebulizer, and adjusted my allergy medicine. Yesterday?

"Yeah, no, sorry. Can't help you. Go to the emergency room."

So I went. 4 hours of being x-rayed, blood drawn (the phlebotomist was a dreammmmmmmmmm) and frozen near to death later?

They plopped me on a nebulizer, gave a prescription for prednisone and another for more albuterol and sent me on my merry way.

At my doctor's, I would have paid $200-250 for the nebulizer and prescriptions, or 2% of my yearly pay. This hospital visit will cost me over $1000-1200 or 10-12% of my yearly pay. Student loans already steal 75% of my yearly pay.

In other words, between student loans and now this, I am flat fucking broke and PISSED. OFF.

[Slayer]

I hope you're doing better now at least.

But omg that's insane ! What if you had just gone to the doctor's office anyway and just waited until he saw you or until the end of the day? It would have been pushy, sure, and something that might/probably will annoy them, but considering the huge price difference, yeah, I'd have tried it.

I can't believe how expensive it is to go to the hospital (I'm in Canada, btw). That's just crazy. I feel really bad for you

And frozen? o_O

[Geek King]

I agree with you, ralerin. That was not an emergancy room issue. Your PCP needs to get on the ball, or you need to shop for a new doctor.

[sevendaysky]

I would have marched down there with any paperwork associated to this that the emergency room gave me - discharge papers with the diagnosis, care, prescription instructions, what have you - and gone down to speak with the office manager at the nice new shiny doctor's office. I would have told them that due to whoever you spoke to on the phone being dismissive and giving you incorrect advice, you are now asking them to pay the bill for you, or at least the difference between prices. Tell them that you're going to go to the medical board in that state (I'm under the impression you're in the US) if it's not paid.

Then follow up with a letter to said medical board and find a new PCP if you can.

[Andara Bledin]

Wow. A general rule of thumb is that if you don't think it's worthy of being hospitalized or stitched up, it's probably not a good idea to hit the ER. Why the hell would a PC doc send you there for an allergy-type flare-up?

Most places these days have "urgent care" or something similar for issues that need to be dealt with in a timely (same day) fashion, but aren't actual emergencies. It may take a couple of hours to be seen (I take a book), but unless you really need someone who is familiar with your situation (and can't be briefed by looking up your history), then it's usually the way to go.

^-.-^

[ralerin]

I hope you're doing better now at least.

I can't believe how expensive it is to go to the hospital (I'm in Canada, btw). That's just crazy. I feel really bad for you

And frozen? o_O

I am a bit better. The reason I think for so many allergy attacks is that I ran out of my allergy medication and I'm developing a bad cold.

And yes, frozen. The hospital I went to is notorious for having EXTREMELY cold rooms. I was grateful when a nurse took pity on me and got me a blanket from the warmer.

Edit to add: She wasn't dismissive per se. I called the doctor's and I was having a hard time speaking. But beforehand, even if I was, they would come up with "ok, doctor x will see you asap at 3" and off I'd go. This time the receptionist said, "no, we don't provide that level of care here. Go to the emergency room".

My reasoning? I don't have health insurance, my PCP knows I don't have health insurance and she wanted to not take care of me.

[dragon_wings]

<snip>

My reasoning? I don't have health insurance, my PCP knows I don't have health insurance and she wanted to not take care of me.

That's no reason to not see you.
I'm glad you're feeling better, but I agree you need to find another PCP.

[Seshat]

There's an urgent care place right next to my local hospital's ER. The reception staff at the urgent care are triage nurses, and their triages are accepted at the ER - basically, if you need what the urgent care can't provide, they ship you straight next door and you're in the queue bypassing their reception.

They're open during the day, and during the times the ER is usually busy. They also have access to the imaging and other diagnostic tools of the hospital, and I think they have the right to admit, much as the ER does.

[BlaqueKatt]

Wow. A general rule of thumb is that if you don't think it's worthy of being hospitalized or stitched up, it's probably not a good idea to hit the ER.

in the military it was[potential loss or severe injury of] "life, limb, or eyesight", anything else can likely wait until morning-I still use those guidelines.

[Sapphire Silk]

Edit to add: She wasn't dismissive per se. I called the doctor's and I was having a hard time speaking. But beforehand, even if I was, they would come up with "ok, doctor x will see you asap at 3" and off I'd go. This time the receptionist said, "no, we don't provide that level of care here. Go to the emergency room".

My reasoning? I don't have health insurance, my PCP knows I don't have health insurance and she wanted to not take care of me.

I'm glad you are feeling better. But in the defense of your PCP, based on your description of events, I'd have told you to go to the ER, too. The receptionist may not have known you, and realized that you are often treated for this in the office.

Respiratory distress is nothing to fuck around with. You're lucky your PCP in the past has been willing to handle it in the office. He's been taking a risk. Situations like yours can get out of hand real quick, without warning.

You know your own body better; if you think in a similar situation the ER would be too much, opt for an urgent care instead.

Contact the hospital and see if you can arrange a payment plan. They may be willing to work with you.

If you're not worried about your credit score, then you don't have to take their demands as the final answer. They'll try to get as much out of you as they can, and to hell if you can afford it or not. If you live in a state that doesn't allow medical collections to charge interest (California does, North Carolina does not, check your state rules on this) then tell them, "I can pay X amount per month and no more," even if it's $5 a month then they can't do anything about it; no judge will enter a civil judgement against you if you pay a set amount without fail.

[ralerin]

I am a bit worried about my credit score. I'm already in the toilet with one student loan company because I can't afford $200 a month and they aren't interested in either lowering my payments or a deferment. I've tried.

There is no urgent care at hospital I was referred to. There is one at hospital farther away if I remember correctly.

[Sapphire Silk]

That limits your options with the hospital; but you still may be able to work out a payment plan you can afford. You just won't be holding all the cards.

Hope you are feeling better!

[ralerin]

Update:

The prednisone wasn't doing a thing, until I examined my diet and figured out that both chocolate and mint (seperately) were causing the asthma attacks. So I've dropped them both, and lo and behold, I'm breathing fine. It sucks, I love them both, but breathing is more important than eating.

[Andara Bledin]

Chocolate and mint? You poor thing.

But, yeah. Breathing is slightly higher on the list of priorities.

^-.-^

[Akasa]

Wow, what sucky things to trigger asthma attacks.