Guaranteed Healthcare

I was hit by another driver last December. I naively went to a clinic to get checked out. As soon as it came out that this was treatment sought related to an auto accident, the office personnel acted as if I had leprosy. I was treated as if I was some kind of lunatic for coming in to a doctor.

The well rehearsed phrase (which I have now heard from four different offices' managers/intake workers) is (and be sure to picture the wide eyes and squeaky inflection that goes with this speech), "We are not denying service! But the doctor deserves to get paid! You can pay cash in full." It does not matter if you have bodily coverage through your own auto insurance company. It does not matter if the other auto company has accepted liability. It does not matter if you want to use your work coverage.

You must have a mattress full of cash to cover all your tests and exams and treatment, or you will get none. And if you make this observation, expect to be escorted to the door, marked as unwelcome as a patient, and told not to come back - oh, and there are cameras in and around the building. So I "lied" to some of the office intake workers; which is weird because some of them had just heard me say that the injury in question was the result of an auto accident-which had elicited the above quoted speech. (It will not help you to go to the emergency room immediately post accident I am told.)

One doctor stood outside the door and said sarcastically to no one else there, but loud enough for me to hear, "If I complain will it make it all better?" He proceeded to misdiagnose and misprescribe my injury. Another time the physical therapy office that I was referred to managed to lose my referral three times-until I went away. Another doctor suggested that I start on anti-depressants.

Furthermore, the auto insurance company accepting liability told me immediately that they were capping the limit on my injury claim (at about $2000). I could get no attorney to help because they say the insurance companies can do what they like in relation to physical injuries. Because I have ongoing problems that affect my ability to work well, I have sought to do the right thing and provided a record trail of my progress. After all, at any point in the future, I now have a pre-existing injury that any insurer can call in to avoid coverage.

Having done things this way has now caused a cumulative cost so far approximately 12 times what it would have cost me out of pocket to just self-pay quietly for partial treatment. In other words, if I had simply seen the chiropractor and prayed that I had no other issues, I would have paid less that $500 so far. As it is, I have set up a subrogation process with my work insurance, and between their payments and mine, the costs have gone above $6000, and in this case it is because the chiropractor is billing to my work insurance company.

When I finally settle with the auto insurance accepting liability, any proceeds will go to my work insurance company - which is good and fine. But now I am paying on my co-pays of about $2000, which I will never get compensated for. So much for taking care of yourself. I submit, the auto insurance companies stand directly between my welfare and my doctors. I am not gouging nor playing the system. I want to be safe, well and able to work as i did before. That is all.