Medical billing staff are the problem...

I've discovered one of the main stumbling blocks to getting the medical care or prescriptions you need isn't just the lack of health insurance or bad health insurance coverage -- it's getting past the medical billing people.

Let me share a true life adventure...Our insurance company changed the co-pay for our office visits before the date they were supposed to. So when I went to the doctor I paid what I was supposed to pay but the doctor's office claimed I owed an additional $15.00 before I was supposed to owe it. Then they started adding on late fees even though I called, explained and the insurance company said they would straighten it out.

So then I needed a prescription...since I hadn't paid my balance even though they knew why -- they wouldn't schedule an appointment or ask the doctor for a refill. This is a prescription I need to take, they didn't care. It was either pay the now up to $40.00 or not get my prescription. So, I started to have problems because all this time I'm out of my prescription. I was about ready to go to urgent care which would have been more than a regular office visit because these medical billing people were just plain rude over $40 mind you, that I wasn't even supposed to have to pay. I called the doctor's office today after hours and got to talk to one of the actual doctors. He apologized and told me that I should never have to go without my medication and that he would phone something in. When I went to pick it up? He phoned in two weeks worth...The soonest they told me they could get me in was three weeks...Which means it's either find a new doctors office or end up paying something I don't owe since even with the insurance company telling them I don't owe this they won't budge and still going a week without a prescription I'm supposed to take every day. While everyone is debating health care, there should be better rules in place when it comes to basic rights to medical care...