Counting the Cost

We're back from an trip to Amarillo where we got some good news- Georgia does not need chemo, "just" radiation.  That was a huge relief, of course.   While G continued on with her doctor's appointments, I made a run down to Lubbock to hand over my permanently injured prairie falcon to a raptor rescue group where she’ll be used in education programs.

I know that Georgia is feeling better because she woke up angry.  Not at me, fortunately, but at the medical process.  She _cannot_ get a straight answer on "How much will this cost?"  Even when a procedure is "approved" by our insurance- BC/BS- we still get bills for the portion that BCBS "didn't cover".   I mean, we have a letter in hand stating that BCBS has approved this or that procedure and we still get bills for it.  

NO ONE- the nurses, the hospital financial staff, BCBS (who you can't even get on the phone- G was on hold for 90 minutes a few weeks ago)- can answer or is willing to answer the question of "How much will this cost?", This happens even when G is told about a procedure: "It's a recipe...we do this, we do this, and we do it for all patients".  If it's a recipe, you should know how much, or at least have an estimate of how much, it'll cost, no?  Georgia's been on the phone non-stop for the past 3 hours, asking questions and looking for answers.    Here's hoping something gets accomplished.

We went thru this already with David, but in that case, I didn't care about the money and we had no other known option.  When we got aggressive about trying to fix him, all I cared about were results.  As it turned out, we ended up with LOTS of bills and poor results.  True, we were battling an inherited genetic disease, but David actually died not from that, not from the seizure, but when a nurse rolled him over and his tracheotomy  tube came out and could not be reinserted.  I’m not going to blame that person, as accidents happen (and God’s will is done), but David died as a direct result of medical.... let’s not say “incompetence” but let’s say, maybe, “limitations”.  Why wasn’t a longer tube used?  Was there no backup plan to the admittedly too short trach tube?  Why was he rolled over?    In any case, the results were poor and the bills still flooded in.   Are we in that spot again?

I don’t think any one person is to blame for this boondoggle.  I think it’s more of a problem with compartmentalization and specialization.  There are few overseeing advocates- at least few to to whom the job is more than just a paycheck.  The office people do their job and don’t (“can’t”, as in “not allowed”, perhaps?) look past their responsibilities.  The nurses do their job, but in our experience, they are clearly discouraged from looking past their position.  They say it all the time- “I can’t say anything about that... you'll have to ask so-and-so.”  The doctors do their job and I’d certainly not lay blame at their feet as most of the actual doctors (and nurses) we’ve dealt with have seemed to truly care about the person in front of them.  The blame goes past them- hospital administration, perhaps?   

Something has been lost between the actual hospital, where people are trying to help people and save lives, and the insurance companies, where money is made and shuffled.  And I’m sure that drug companies- where billions of $$$ are made- have a strong influence.  It’s a parasitic mess and I’m sure there are hundreds of books on this topic all of them with proposed solutions, most of which are probably different from each other.   On the whole, you know what I think?

1Ti 6:10 NKJV  For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

 Psa 135:15 NKJV  The idols of the nations are silver and gold, The work of men's hands.

I think that when lots of dollars get involved, that the higher purpose gets lost.  What to do about it, though?  
As of now, we’re not in an emergency situation so we're calling around to other places to see if we can find answers we like.  If necessary, we’ll abandon our current facility and go elsewhere- Santa Fe?  Another place in Amarillo?  Who knows?   What an incredibly frustrating thing this is, though, especially on top of one's actual medical needs.

Well, it's time to get to work and make money to pay bills.