I often talk about important bill pay web sites that are shoddily built and have some problem that prevents you from actually paying your bill, unless you go into devtools and mess with stuff. I don’t think talking about that changes anything. Much like that,, I don’t think that detailing a bad healthcare system experience will change anything. Yet somehow, I feel it should be talked about.
Having gotten tired of having to move extra carefully and of jolts of pain for failing to do so, I decided to try to get to a doctor in hopes of speeding up my intercostal injury recovery.
I started with the PCP that I chose from a list presented by my insurance. I called her office, Hallmark Medical Associates, but a Tufts Health IVR system answered. Tufts Health had bought Hallmark.
The CSR wasn’t sure that Tufts Health took my insurance and said an admin would call me back about it. Later, that admin called back and said they don’t take my insurance so they couldn’t set up an appointment. However, he said that possibly the doctor herself took my insurance and gave me a number to call her with.
After I hung up, I realized that was the number that I had called in the first place.
I decided to try a different tack and call a walk-in sports medicine clinic at Mass General Brigham. No appointment needed! I called to see if they took my insurance but found out they don’t treat intercostal injuries.
So, then I tried calling Tufts Health again but explained that I really wanted to get in contact with one specific doctor who I was told may take my insurance, even though Tufts Health didn’t. They said that they would contact her, then her team would contact me. I guess her direct contact information is not for the public.
No one called me this afternoon; maybe they’ll call tomorrow.
Next, I tried the sports medicine department at Boston Medical Center, which is in my insurance’s list (though I now know that list is unreliable). They took a while to find out, but eventually, they did say they treated intercostal injuries.
Because I have a deductible, I’ll be paying for this out of pocket. So, I asked for an estimate about what it would cost.
A lot of times, when I ask this, a medical office will say they’ll have to get the codes for the service, then I’ll have to call their billing department to find the prices that the codes correspond to. To their credit, BMC just said straight up: $350-$550, then about another $300 if an X-ray is needed.
$550 is a lot for a potential visit culminating in “Well, there’s not much you can do; keep resting.” But I have to take the chance that there’s a way to get back to normal more quickly.
All told, this was 1.5 hours on the phone. Some of the time couldn’t be helped; I guess an intercostal injury is rare and a lot of offices have no idea if they deal with it.
However, my terrible insurance doesn’t seem to be up-to-date on who their providers are, and Tufts Health seems to have sort of disappeared my PCP.
This is the texture of our healthcare system in the US.