There once was a little girl named Skye, and a Raven would fly to her window every day, and she would feed it. And every night, the Raven would bring her a shiny treasure; sometimes a rusty nail, other times a bit of foil paper, a butterfly wing, a piece of sea glass. Over time, he would allow Skye to run her fingers over his blue-black feathers, and they would talk for hours. But every so often during his nightly visits to her window, he would bring her a delicate gold ring, and ask her to put it on her finger. Skye would never oblige, telling him he was silly, and would toss it back down into the hedges. The Raven liked her name, telling her that it reminded him of the places he would fly when he was not visiting her. These day and night visits went on for years and years, until one night Skye held the ring in her hands for a very long time, and then slipped it on her ringfinger, whispering a wish to the moon, that she would find her one true love. And with that, the Raven disappeared, only to reappear in the form of a handsome young man. He had grown up a spoiled young prince, without care or worry for anyone but himself, never appreciating all the gifts he was given, often turning up his nose and dismissing them. As is the case in so many other fairy tales, a witch got involved, chastising him for his selfish behaviors, and, after turning him into a Raven, cursed him with the task of spending his days searching for things with meaning and value, and gathering them until the sun went down, until he had learned his lesson. And they lived happy ever after......
Friday, July 31, 2015
Riddle Me This, Cos I Just Don't Get It
I wish that someone could explain to me how the health insurance/third party interlopers thing works.
And by "works," I mean, "best benefits the patient." You know, the one who has an actual health issue that needs to be addressed and treated. By medical professionals.
I have been going to a chiropractor for the past four and a half months. Well, let me back up a few paces.
In March 2014, I was involved in a car accident, during which time I was stopped at a red light and then rear-ended by a kid who had just gotten off a long shift at Publix and fell asleep at the wheel. Thankfully, it was not a life-threatening incident. My car at the time was a 2002 Chevy Cavalier that had given me little in the way of trouble for the 12 years I'd been driving her, but in the back of my mind, I had known for awhile that I would need to seriously think about car shopping in the not-so-distant future, because despite the car not giving me much in the way of issue, they just don't build stuff like they used to. Planned obsolescence. Just one more sad facet to the throwaway society in which we live.
While my car was not what you would describe as officially "totaled" in car insurance-speak, and the outer appearance gave very little indication of a sustenance of major damage, the fact of the matter is that the designated shop fixed it to the tune of about $2500 (which, truth be told, really is probably what the fair market value was for a used 2002 Cavalier).
I myself was also not "totaled," in that I had no broken bones or internal bleeding. I didn't have a concussion, there was no broken glass, and all of my organs were intact. So essentially, it went as well as a car accident could be expected to go. I wasn't at fault, and I hadn't lost any limbs.
I chose to go to the ER because within minutes of the impact, I began to notice that my neck and lower back were becoming sore (thankfully I did not choose to take an ambulance, since my health insurance co. does not cover ambulance rides-- go figure). Unfortunately I wound up spending about seven hours there, only to be sent home with a prescription for a handful of muscle relaxants and painkillers, and a report that advised me to follow up with my primary care physician.
The next day I awoke feeling like utter crap. I was beleaguered by phone calls from the insurance company, stressed out from filling out forms, all at the same time batting emails back and forth between my boss and coworkers to boot. In between all of this, I called my primary care doctor as instructed to follow up, assuming that I would no doubt be sent for MRI's etc. to rule out any damage that might be unseen via x-ray, and was told that they could not see or treat me, but would be happy to provide me a list of physicians who would see me. This sent up red flags immediately, and I envisioned the type of care that you get through personal injury lawyers and other seedy means. I was extremely upset and wound up calling my mother, who told me that a neighbor of hers saw a chiropractor whom she highly recommended. I called said chiropractor and she was kind enough to squeeze me in a day and a half later.
Meanwhile, my boss expected me to come to work that Friday, so that I could "have the whole weekend" to recuperate. Recuperate from a cervical sprain that I retained during a car accident. When I did drag my carcass into the office that Friday morning, she looked at me sideways, like how a dog does when it hears a funny sound. "Why don't you have a neck brace?"
"Because I... don't have a broken neck..?" I said it more as a question.
"Oh. I just figured if you injured your neck, they'd put you in a neck brace."
I guess since my injuries and pain were internal, they were therefore not valid. But not spared the wrath of the passive-aggressive boss.
After adjustments for nearly 2 months, I finally got the chiro to write me a script for MRIs of the three areas of my spine. It took two visits, spaced weeks apart, then weeks more to get the results faxed to the chiropractor. All the while, I'm still receiving questions from the car insurance company. All in all... inconclusive. Nothing in the way of real damage, but things that could or might indicate possible issues... Clear as mud.
After about six months, the insurance company was itching to settle. Since the chiropractor I was seeing basically said that there was no improvement, I had likely "plateau'd." So the insurance company sent me a check and I was done.
During a routine visit to my primary care doctor, I ranted about how all of my coworkers could book massage therapy appointments when they were "stressed" and our health insurance plan would cover it, but here I was, with a legitimate injury and pain, and because it could be car-accident-related, it is not covered by my health insurance. My doctor was kind enough to write a script for 14 visits for chiropractic care and physical therapy for my chronic headaches (which I've had for more than 20 years) so that it would not be flagged as being car-accident-related.
After 14 visits of massage, adjustments with the main chiropractor (the one I had been seeing was merely renting a space and using their electro-stimulus equipment) and physical therapy at the same office that originally provided the chiropractic care and electro-stimulus therapy, I asked the chiro about seeing him for treatment of my headaches on my own.
I've done so for several months, once a week, a half hour of massage, about five minutes of adjustments, and 10-15 minutes of electro-stim therapy.
Now my health insurance provider has a third-party administrator helping them to save money, and they have decided that "treatments" like mine are considered "maintenance," when they would much rather see a patient come by the office once a month or so, rather than on a regular basis like once a week.
Never mind that there have been times when I needed to schedule emergency appointments when my back and shoulders suddenly started spasming for no reason, causing great pain and often contributing to headaches and other discomfort.
And by "works," I mean, "best benefits the patient." You know, the one who has an actual health issue that needs to be addressed and treated. By medical professionals.
I have been going to a chiropractor for the past four and a half months. Well, let me back up a few paces.
In March 2014, I was involved in a car accident, during which time I was stopped at a red light and then rear-ended by a kid who had just gotten off a long shift at Publix and fell asleep at the wheel. Thankfully, it was not a life-threatening incident. My car at the time was a 2002 Chevy Cavalier that had given me little in the way of trouble for the 12 years I'd been driving her, but in the back of my mind, I had known for awhile that I would need to seriously think about car shopping in the not-so-distant future, because despite the car not giving me much in the way of issue, they just don't build stuff like they used to. Planned obsolescence. Just one more sad facet to the throwaway society in which we live.
While my car was not what you would describe as officially "totaled" in car insurance-speak, and the outer appearance gave very little indication of a sustenance of major damage, the fact of the matter is that the designated shop fixed it to the tune of about $2500 (which, truth be told, really is probably what the fair market value was for a used 2002 Cavalier).
I myself was also not "totaled," in that I had no broken bones or internal bleeding. I didn't have a concussion, there was no broken glass, and all of my organs were intact. So essentially, it went as well as a car accident could be expected to go. I wasn't at fault, and I hadn't lost any limbs.
I chose to go to the ER because within minutes of the impact, I began to notice that my neck and lower back were becoming sore (thankfully I did not choose to take an ambulance, since my health insurance co. does not cover ambulance rides-- go figure). Unfortunately I wound up spending about seven hours there, only to be sent home with a prescription for a handful of muscle relaxants and painkillers, and a report that advised me to follow up with my primary care physician.
The next day I awoke feeling like utter crap. I was beleaguered by phone calls from the insurance company, stressed out from filling out forms, all at the same time batting emails back and forth between my boss and coworkers to boot. In between all of this, I called my primary care doctor as instructed to follow up, assuming that I would no doubt be sent for MRI's etc. to rule out any damage that might be unseen via x-ray, and was told that they could not see or treat me, but would be happy to provide me a list of physicians who would see me. This sent up red flags immediately, and I envisioned the type of care that you get through personal injury lawyers and other seedy means. I was extremely upset and wound up calling my mother, who told me that a neighbor of hers saw a chiropractor whom she highly recommended. I called said chiropractor and she was kind enough to squeeze me in a day and a half later.
Meanwhile, my boss expected me to come to work that Friday, so that I could "have the whole weekend" to recuperate. Recuperate from a cervical sprain that I retained during a car accident. When I did drag my carcass into the office that Friday morning, she looked at me sideways, like how a dog does when it hears a funny sound. "Why don't you have a neck brace?"
"Because I... don't have a broken neck..?" I said it more as a question.
"Oh. I just figured if you injured your neck, they'd put you in a neck brace."
I guess since my injuries and pain were internal, they were therefore not valid. But not spared the wrath of the passive-aggressive boss.
After adjustments for nearly 2 months, I finally got the chiro to write me a script for MRIs of the three areas of my spine. It took two visits, spaced weeks apart, then weeks more to get the results faxed to the chiropractor. All the while, I'm still receiving questions from the car insurance company. All in all... inconclusive. Nothing in the way of real damage, but things that could or might indicate possible issues... Clear as mud.
After about six months, the insurance company was itching to settle. Since the chiropractor I was seeing basically said that there was no improvement, I had likely "plateau'd." So the insurance company sent me a check and I was done.
During a routine visit to my primary care doctor, I ranted about how all of my coworkers could book massage therapy appointments when they were "stressed" and our health insurance plan would cover it, but here I was, with a legitimate injury and pain, and because it could be car-accident-related, it is not covered by my health insurance. My doctor was kind enough to write a script for 14 visits for chiropractic care and physical therapy for my chronic headaches (which I've had for more than 20 years) so that it would not be flagged as being car-accident-related.
After 14 visits of massage, adjustments with the main chiropractor (the one I had been seeing was merely renting a space and using their electro-stimulus equipment) and physical therapy at the same office that originally provided the chiropractic care and electro-stimulus therapy, I asked the chiro about seeing him for treatment of my headaches on my own.
I've done so for several months, once a week, a half hour of massage, about five minutes of adjustments, and 10-15 minutes of electro-stim therapy.
Now my health insurance provider has a third-party administrator helping them to save money, and they have decided that "treatments" like mine are considered "maintenance," when they would much rather see a patient come by the office once a month or so, rather than on a regular basis like once a week.
Never mind that there have been times when I needed to schedule emergency appointments when my back and shoulders suddenly started spasming for no reason, causing great pain and often contributing to headaches and other discomfort.
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