Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Not All HMOs Suck

With the nightmare that was my Sunday, I had to spend a couple of hours in Urgent Care at Group Health.

I've been a member for as long as I can remember...ever since I stopped seeing my pediatrician (which I did under protest...I hate change). And while not every doctor has been wonderful, the majority have done a good job.

And I'm not completely healthy. I've had to go in for a few urgent things as well as routine check ups and my psychological issues. There are some hoops of course, but there will always be hoops no matter what kind of health insurance someone has.

The latest example of my amazement with Group Health comes with my recent injury. It was a Sunday morning and there were a few folks in front of us, but I don't think we waited in the waiting room more than 20 minutes. We were first seen by the nurse who washed out the wound before sending the doctor in.

The nice thing about GH is that they have quite a few PA (Physician Assistants) and most are very capable. This guy was amazing. He was incredibly thorough ... checking to make sure there was no breakage or tendon damage. He took his time and didn't rush through.

He decided not to put stitches in yet and to give the wound time to calm down a bit...the swelling was pretty bad and so was the bleeding. So he made an appointment with me to come in Tuesday morning at 8:15.

This is a really odd thing let me tell you. Here is an Urgent Care doc, who is only coming in on Tuesday for a meeting, but who wants a patient to come in and see him before his meeting.

On Monday he even called me to check and see how the wound was and whether I'd be coming in on Tuesday. Of course, I was, and I did. He was there in street clothes...only there for the meeting and to check out my wound.

That kind of service is not something we can look forward to if Obamanation implements nationalized health care. We're more likely to see care like that of this poor little girl who starves after having her teeth pulled. Or the many other cases of patients dying for lack of proper care and follow up that we've seen in Canada and Europe.

I appreciate the care that I've received so far with my HMO and I'd really appreciate it if the government would stay the fuck out of my life and my healthcare.

Thanksokaybyebye.

2 comments:

Sandee said...

I'm glad you had a good experience with this PA. There are indeed lots of good ones out there too.

Have a terrific day. :)

jana said...

That national database has me really spooked. Aside from the obvious concern of having a bureaucrat decide what procedures are or aren't necessary and/or cost effective, I think we all know how secure federal records are.

Just ask Joe the Plumber. I seem to remember finding out a whole bunch of information about that poor sap, just because some Democrat didn't like the question he asked her Messiah.