This post will temporarily break from my usual witty repertoire (well I don't know, it may not)...but I just wanted to explain my absence...
For everyone who keeps screaming about Obama turning us socialist due to Universal Healthcare, let me assure you that after the hell I've just endured, I am MORE than happy to be a socialist, thank YOU.
Don't get me wrong, I'm in a more blessed situation because I actually have insurance. As a military wife, my family and I ascribe to Tricare Prime. Contrary to popular belief, it is not free, as a portion of my husband's paycheck (albeit a small one but a portion nonetheless), is removed for this very purpose. Now we may have the most sophisticated military in the world, but the military certainly does NOT have the most sophisticated health insurance.
First of all, what is the point of having regions for health care? Can anyone explain this to me in simple terms? And if regions are so necessary, why is it that said regions can not TALK to each other? When my daughter came back from staying with my mother in Michigan, she was transitioned back from the Tricare North region (which isn't even called Tricare. It's called Health Net Federal Services) to Tricare West region (called TriWest). Welllll at least I THOUGHT she was. Maybe the problem, first of all, is that they don't even have the same frickin name. But I digress.
Alas while my daughter is fighting some mystery illness that went from cold to fever in a week's time & she's subject to febrile seizures, I call TriWest to get her a pediatrician, only to find out she is not, in fact even insured by TriWest. Now, a month or so ago, I called and had our primary care managers switched from California to Arizona. Jazmyn AND Me. No problem. Now I get a rude, huffy-puffy PMS'ing heffa who wants to interrogate whether or not I completed the application to switch her over. Umm, excuse me, what about your fellow TriWest employee who said that she was already in the Western Region?
"Well YOU'RE supposed to make sure that the application is filled out".
And now a word on Customer Service.
I understand that call center work is a thankless job. Trust me--I've done it and I don't miss it; however, it is not MY fault that your current education & work experience qualify you for this position at this time. If you were to say, step your cookies up & utilize public funding for a better educational opportunity, then perhaps you can learn to rise above and get the fuck OUT of the shark tank of non-advancement that is call center work. IN THE MEANTIME, since you don't own or operate this company, do not think that it is acceptable for you to talk to me any kind of way, as you will get told about yourself and hung up on promptly because I know damn well there is a better way.
Which is, exactly what I did. & the next rep was hardly any better. I'mma need you to step up your training, TriWest. Where's that smile-through-the-phone service I learned?
Basically for the rest of the week, I battled with the different regions going back and forth since they can't even call each other to find a way to take her to urgent care, or get the paperwork turned back in so I could get her a pediatrician: ALL TO NO AVAIL. By the end of the week I had my fuck it moment and took her to the Emergency Room, where she had a 102.1 temperature and we spent 3 hours for a 24 minute diagnosis of a double ear infection and then another subsequent 20 minutes of my life to discharge.
While in the Emergency Room I bonded with people who had been there over 4 hours for obviously more serious issues (Kidney Stones, Gallbladder issues, a possible stroke, liver failure) and they were left to rot. One lady whose side was obviously swollen ended up leaving. They all shared their subsequent horror stories of ER neglect: a little girl died due to cuts in her arms because her parents couldn't get off to help her and the hospital refuses to help anyone under the age of 18 without a parent or guardian present; a woman gave birth in the bathroom; a girl was throwing up blood and not seen for 6 hours (I talked to her directly)--this same girl had an ovarian cyst the size of a grapefruit that they did not see on the ultrasound and then refused to help her because they claimed she was just in there for pain medication. She went to another hospital 3 hours later after it BURST; and the horror stories kept coming. I went numb. Thank God Jaz slept through it all.
I need America to get its shit together because I'm over it. We voted Obama in because we wanted change. Then he got in and because the change hasn't come on fast forward, they say he's failing. No one's taking into account that he's been trying to act on his promises but members of his own party keep sabotaging his efforts. They struck down the healthcare bill the first time because of ambiguity on language of whether or not abortion would be covered by this insurance, because, as we all know, control of a woman's uterus is a hot topic in 2010 (See "No Wedding No Womb").
The point is, this BS needs to stop happening. The health care system we currently have is irretrievably broken and ran by people who, if given a pocket full of fucks, wouldn't LEND you one with 100% interest. (Has anyone seen Michael Moore's "Sicko"? If not, shame on you--here, go redeem yourself).
America--get your shit together.
Peace & Love,
Jaz
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