An Apple-a-Day Health Care Plan
I got myself some new health insurance last year which replaced the ‘catastrophic’ health plan we had the past 30 years or so. The catastrophic plan was actually more of a catatonic plan, meaning, we’d have to be nearly dead to get any benefit from it. It just kept the wolves from picking the bones clean when things got bad and our savings were used up in the first round of care. For the past few years I’ve been hobbled a bit with a bad knee, something I figured would heal up over time but didn’t. So … with that new insurance plan in hand, I decided to limp in for a look-see.
The South End Clinic is a small but busy little place. My appointment to see a doc took a month, but I finally got in for an appointment just before Christmas. The doctor asked questions, rotated the knee, said it could be any number of things so he scheduled me for an x-ray. A week later I had the knee x-rayed at a clinic in town. A few days later the South End Clinic called me with the results. Mostly old age, they said and gave me an appointment for another visit to see the doctor.
I went in a few days ago. Got my blood pressure rechecked and my weight redone, then I got deposited in a waiting room. My doc came in, checked my chart, asked how I felt, asked if my wrist feel any better. I said my wrist still hurt, but it was my knee I wanted to have looked at. He checked the chart again then asked once more about my wrist. After a couple verses of the kneebone’s connected to the neck bone he finally seemed exasperated and called me by name. Ronald somebody.
No, I said, wrong patient. I’m the one with the bad knee. He shook his head sadly, apologized and told me to wait for a few minutes while he retrieved my chart, probably from some poor guy down the hall getting arthroscopic surgery on a knee that wasn’t bothering him. Just before he shut the door I asked, “This mean I don’t get that new heart?”
It took him a double-take but he finally smiled. “I’ll see what I can do,” he said. Me, I can’t tell you how good it feels to be in the health care system finally.
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