{"id":594,"date":"2008-01-02T18:31:27","date_gmt":"2008-01-02T18:31:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.buffyholt.com\/blog\/2008\/01\/02\/medical-billing-the-nhs-takes-on-america\/"},"modified":"2008-01-02T18:55:59","modified_gmt":"2008-01-02T18:55:59","slug":"medical-billing-the-nhs-takes-on-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.buffyholt.com\/blog\/2008\/01\/02\/medical-billing-the-nhs-takes-on-america\/","title":{"rendered":"medical billing. the nhs takes on america."},"content":{"rendered":"

In the UK I go to my GP just by calling up in the morning and attending the office sometime later in the day. His time and advice are free.<\/strong> If he writes me a prescription I get it filled for something like 15 dollars. No matter what it is. <\/p>\n

I’m usually one of the first to point out the failings of all things NHS. I once worked for their regulatory body so I could probably do a better job than most. Still. It’s gotta beat this: <\/p>\n

Last week after visiting my doctor’s office in the US I find $100 tacked onto my already substantial bill and converse with the Desk Sergeant as follows:<\/p>\n

Me: <\/strong> “Wait a minute. What’s this?”<\/p>\n

Desk Sergeant:<\/strong> “It’s $100.” <\/p>\n

Me: (Blank look.)<\/strong> “Yeah. I know that. What’s it for.” <\/p>\n

Desk Sergeant:<\/strong> “It’s for seeing the doctor.”<\/p>\n

Me: <\/strong> “Isn’t that what this list,” points to lengthy bill, “Is for?”<\/p>\n

Desk Sergeant: <\/strong>“Yes.” <\/p>\n

Me: (Second blank look.)<\/strong> “Uh, huh. So is this a gratuity or something?” <\/p>\n

Desk Sergeant: (Blank look of her own.)<\/strong> “You haven’t been here in six months. You’re a new patient. New patients, mean extra administration duties.”<\/p>\n

(It had been six months and two days, btw.)<\/em><\/p>\n

Me: <\/strong> “But you already had all my details. You already know everything about me. You already had a file on me because I saw it when I walked in the door. You never did anything AT ALL today except ask ‘what’s wrong with you this morning?’. And you just stared<\/em> at me when I told you. So you see, you didn’t really have to do any ‘new patient’ things. Did you? I’d like to contest this.” <\/p>\n

Desk Sergeant: <\/strong> “I had to move your file from that cabinet,” points over her left shoulder “To this cabinet,” points over her right shoulder. “And put a NEW sticker on it.” <\/p>\n

Me: (Through closed eyes. After a long pause.) <\/strong> What do I EVEN<\/strong> say to that…?”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the UK I go to my GP just by calling up in the morning and attending the office sometime later in the day. His time and advice are free. If he writes me a prescription I get it filled for something like 15 dollars. No matter what it is. I’m usually one of the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hum-drum"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buffyholt.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buffyholt.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buffyholt.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buffyholt.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buffyholt.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.buffyholt.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buffyholt.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buffyholt.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buffyholt.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}