Seeing A Doctor When You Need Too

It never ceases to amaze me how quickly time can go by when you're busy... My last post was on Halloween and today is Veteran's Day - November 11th. Since Halloween there has been 3 cases of Swine Flu in my home - my 11 year old, my 13 year old, and me.... yes - at 44 years old I had my very first flu - thankfully it was very mild... no fever - just body aches and the coughing.... The coughing is awful... My 11 year old had a case similar to me but my 13 year old had it pretty bad - by bad I mean she had a fever up to 103.5 - but thankfully the fever only lasted 2 days and today 11 days later we are almost fully recovered... In addition to the Swine - I celebrated my 44th birthday... Celebrate or mourn not quite sure on that one.. hmm - had a very nice day...

During the time that the girls and I were sick - I started to think about how lucky I was that I had immediate access to my doctor.. any doctor for that matter. We have a PPO plan - I have no idea what that initials mean but I know with this plan I have never had to wait for an authorization for any treatment..... for any doctor.... I just go... I seriously believe that if I had a HMO several years ago - I would not be alive today.....

In 1994 - I developed pregnancy induced hyper-tension... then it escalated to preeclampsia - then the loss of our daughter.... During the preeclampsia - I was in the hospital for three (3) weeks that time... Less than a year later - I had a fever of unknown origin which turned into kidney failure - During this time - I was able to see my doctor right away - I was put in the hospital right away.... and there was never.. not once any red tape.... any authorizations to worry about....

As you know - my sister Debbie is going to have brain surgery on November 19th... My sister has a HMO and for over twenty (20) years she has been jumping through hoop after hoop after hoop in hopes of finding out what has been making her pass out.... Making her lose time.... I cannot count the times that she has had to wait months for an authorization to go through and then the day finally comes when she can see the medical professional that is suppose to help her only to come home disappointed.... needing more authorizations.. for more tests.. different doctors.. By the time the authorization came through and the tests were done.. so much time had passed that not one doctor knew what the other one was doing.... they each had a different opinion... they each were over worked... and my sister had been juggled around through the HMO system... with no answers and no results.... by the grace of God - a wise doctor in the emergency room (after she had passed out on a public golf course) thought it would be a good idea to do a MRI of her brain..... the MRI showed several lesions that are believed to a product of MS.... of course in the HMO system the doctors have not 100% diagnosed her with MS.... well you know there are about 1543 authorizations - tests and doctors to see.... but because of the MRI tests they found the tumor... I want to personally thank that ER doctor.... for making a "Big Boy" no authorization required decision.... If the ER doctor had not had the MRI done - you know what - I just don't want to think about the what if...... too scary to even contemplate...

I am so very fearful of Obama's health care reform.... It feels to me that the government is trying to take away another freedom..... of course that is not the way it is presented..... I picture the new health care reform being much worse than an HMO...... I picture it being long wait times... wrong over worked doctors..... I picture it being like the DMW - long lines - going no where.... government employees who really don't give a hoot about you..... Have you ever met someone nice at the DMV??? Have you ever been helped immediately at the DMV with an appointment???

What do you think?