An old something I don't think I ever posted

Another Name For Depression Is Depression.*


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Back in April, I went to see my PCP because I was feeling so lousy, I was spending all my time thinking I was dying.

I was not dying. I was depressed.

My doctor gave me a prescription for Prozac, which is now blessedly cheap.

At the time, we discussed—

No, wait.

At the time, I pointed out the problem with anti-depressants: they stop working. The first thing you do when that happens is, you up the dosage. The second thing you do, when the first stops working, is change to a different drug. I said I was prepared for both of these eventualities.

I thought we were on the same page. But then, he was talking about his vacation and joining in the doctor games and didn't seem to be paying much attention to me anyway. I was so relieved not to be dying, I was only annoyed by this.

A couple weeks ago, I had an appointment with some kind of wellness team, I think they call themselves. They're supposed to coordinate your care. I don't even know why I went, but while I was there I said the Prozac seemed not as effective as it had been and I'd like to up my dosage. They were pretty sure I'd have to see the doctor again, even when I told them the conversation we had. Or, rather, the monologue I had.

Well, that wasn't going to happen. Right now I have no deductible—I pay the whole thing, until I hit the magic three thousand dollar out of pocket. I'm nowhere near that, so I'm not prepared to hand over a hundred bucks to have a second conversation where the doctor is actually listening.

Whatever. I had been in a bad slump but am now feeling better again, so I can hold on for a while.

Then I got a call from one of the team. Yes, the doctor is insisting on seeing me. Well, that's fine, I'll stick with what I'm taking now.

Today I get a call from the accounts manager or something. There is no earthly reason I can't come in and see the doctor at any time! There is no co-pay due at the time of the visit!

Read that last sentence again. Here, I'll write it again: there is no co-pay due at the time of the visit.

She reiterated it several times, sometimes leaving off the last part.

Now, there are doctor visits that are one hundred percent covered by insurance. Preventative things. This didn't seem to qualify, but what do I know, I'm not that familiar with their billing codes. (I have a friend who once got billed because she scheduled a "check-up" instead of a "physical.") But this seemed suspect. I could come in any time and not have to pay a co-pay at the time of the visit.

It took a while, but I finally got out of her that, well, yes, there would be a bill later, but she had no idea how much that would be because she's unfamiliar with my insurance particulars.

That last bit is a lie. I had told her my insurance particulars, so she wasn't unfamiliar with them; she was choosing to act as though my information was untrustworthy. She would believe it if it came from the insurance company, but of course they wouldn't tell her. So it would forever remain a mystery to her. Probably even if I brought in a bill from her very office it would be inconclusive, since it would be coming from me, a patient.

(Long parenthetical aside: this is one of those things that drives me straight through the roof. When someone has just given you information, saying, "I don't know that," is just calling them a liar. If I told you the time and you promptly said, "Yes, but I don't know what time it is," I'd think you were an idiot. But doing it for fun and profit is insulting and really needs to stop. Fucking say you need to verify my information, at least that's honest; I could be wrong, I could be lying, you don't know. But this eel-like behavior is obnoxious, and pretending you aren't doing it is mendacious.)

She also insisted on using the word co-pay even after acknowledging I don't have a co-pay. I foot the whole bill, minus what the insurance company says the doctor can't charge. (Which is the real benefit of having insurance.)

And then she started laughing.

I asked her what about this was funny, but she'd stopped responding. Then she hung up on me.

I'm sorry. She "ended the call." I'm sure it was my fault.

I called the doctor's office and cancelled the appointments I have and got to talk to the office manager, who I had to tell the whole story to. I told her that a doctor's office using bait-and-switch tactics was the lowest thing I'd ever heard of and what did they think was going to happen in a month when the bill came? "Oh, hey, I'll just send them the money I was going to give the electric company; I can sit in the dark for a month." I also said that I wasn't interested in seeing the doctor anymore, since apparently he paid so little attention to what I was saying, he needed me to come back in and say it again—on my dime. That is not happening.

So, I'm probably looking for a new doctor. Which I would see as a good thing, but who says the new doctor will be better?

[This is a few years old. Eventually they saw it my way.]


*www.freemd.com/depression/