ANA Discussion Forum
Post-Treatment => Cognitive/Emotional Issues => Topic started by: Captain Deb on June 02, 2010, 09:50:24 pm
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Today I went to se my GP who has been treating me for sacroiliitis and depression. I walked in there with a bill to pay which showed that I had been billed twice for something. Earlier this year I had been billed $750 for 2 ultrasound procedures I had never even had. I got that straightened out and they took it off my bill and said they would refund medicare. I learnde the hard way to go over ever single oc bill I get with a fine tooth comb after my husband blindly paid every bill that came in after my surgery 7 years ago. Once I could see straight I started going through them and found ove $5000 worth of errors and it took me a year and many many phone calls to get that money refunded.
I was supposed to talk to my GP about the new anti-depressant I am on and get a refill for my xanex. I don't take a lot of xanex, but I really need it when the wonky head kicks in hard--nausea, verigo, dizziness, hyperacussis, headache. This usually happens after driving in a car more than an hour or two.
, and being around my two unruly grandkids at about 7:00 PM when the start screaming that they don't wanna eat dinner or go to bed and they get major whiney. The acoustics in my sons house are horrendous and all that noise gives me a major headache.
So I get my prescription for my xanax and my anti-depressant from not my regular doc, but a partner of his who knows nothing about my case. When I go up to the window I see that there are no refills on the prescription and that I will have to come back in a month to get the refills. Federal Law, they say. Well I know this is bull****, because I get 2 or 3 refill on meds that my neurologist gives me. I believe this is just a scam to charge my insurance company $175 every month that I have to come in for a refill. My regular doc in this practice is no longer allowed to write prscriptions because he got in some trouble writing them to a woman he was seeing..
So he passes his prescriptions to be written by a doc who doesn't even know my case, or that I had brain damage and chronic headaches. I asked for some pain medication because my back was absolutely killing me and I could not sleep and he gave me tramadol, which didn;t even touch the pain I was in. I am really peeved because I should have been sent to a specialist months ago. When I asked for a referral, I had to call back twice and finally a week later I got one set up.
So anyway, when I see there are no refills on my meds, I just lost it! Why should I have to fork over $50 every month for a simple med refill? I told them I was never coming back again and they could send me a bill and walked out. I was so upset I could hardly drive home.
When I got home I called Medicare and asked if that $750 bill had ever been refunded to them and they said no, so I asked to file a fraud charge. I also think lying to a patient and telling them they would have to come in every month to refill their meds constitued fraud, too.
I have called a couple other GPs in my town and very few of them are taking new patients. November was the soonest I could get in to see the GP that I wanted to see. So I guess I'll be off my anti-depressants and my anti-anxiety meds till then. I just wish one of those bastards could live inside my head for just a day and see what I go through.
Wheeew--that felt better!
Thanks for listening,
Capt Deb(http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee60/Captdeb_photos/mz_0101_10034339657.gif)
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Deb, I sure hope you feel better soon. Ask if you can't just call the doctors' office to get a prescription refill. We do that here all the time. The nurse asks the doctor and then calls in to the pharmacy. No visit, no copay.
Sara
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That stinks!! I am so sorry and hope that it gets resolved soon! i will be thinking about you!
K ;D
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Deb, Thought would mention that my husbands pain pills past his hip surgery had no refills and we had to call and ask for more and was immediately done. I do think various drs have various ways of how they handle refills. I hope you can get it worked out as you have no need for such hassle! You have been thru more than enough!
Cheryl R
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Deb, I sure hope you feel better soon. Ask if you can't just call the doctors' office to get a prescription refill. We do that here all the time. The nurse asks the doctor and then calls in to the pharmacy. No visit, no copay.
Sara
They have big signs all over their office that they do not phone in refills, you have to be seen. I think this policy is bull.
Capt Deb
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Deb, another possibility is to ask the pharmacy to call the physician for a refill.
If that won't work, you might also contact the medical board in your state. North Carolina, right? Go to http://www.ncmedboard.org/contact_us/ and there is a toll-free number.
It does not seem right that you should have to pay for an office visit to renew a prescription. I hope that one of these approaches will work.
Sara
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Oh Deb .....
Your situation is distressing, on several levels. I know you live in a relatively small community, but I certainly hope you can change doctors before November!
We had the same GP for 25 years, who was wonderful ..... not only our physician, but a good friend, as well. We became very spoiled. He died four months after he retired so we had no choice but to look for a new PCP. Well, that was a long and troublesome search ..... we went through 3 GPs before finding one who was compatible with our philosophy for medical care and who we felt really cared about us and our needs. For the past five years we have had a great PCP again. Like a couple of others who have replied to your post, we can either call her office for a refill to be called in, or the pharmacy will call her office and they will fax an authorization to the pharmacy. She likes to see us at least every six months because of our chronic conditions, but certainly not every month.
Please keep searching for a compassionate and honest doctor! I have never had a billing issue with any physician ..... but I still keep track of all charges, EOBs, and payments.
Many thoughts, prayers, and love going out to you .......
Clarice
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Sorry for your troubles Deb.....I am starting to believe gps are morons.
Yesterday i go in for the muscle spasms from the nerve damage from my AN surgery....my dr looks at his computer and proceeds to ask if i have had a tetanus shot...i say no maybe they gave me one before my surgery...he goes What kind of surgery did you have?????OMG i have been seeing this guy for 2 years for all of the after effects and he looks me in the eye and asked that >:(
I am at wits end w/ this muscle spasing....seriously contemplating Gabepenton.
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Captn
Anxiously awaiting for you to move to "civilization" ;) so I can get you to docs that don't overly bilk (heck, they all do.... but let's get you one that "curbs" it)
Will contact you later..... btw, love the avitar! :-* :-* :-*
Hugglez..... you know it.
Lurve
Your cursed cruise director!
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Just call 1 800 Canada. You don't even need a Rx. I have an extra pill I'd gladly mail down to ya! Seriously!
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sorry you are having such a hard time ... that is how things went with my rheumy (45 minutes away) and neurosurgeons ( 2 hours away) ...a trip would cost me in gas and time for a quick look to go over chart to see why I needed something refilled ... in and out in 15 minutes and it cost me out the wasoo ...fired everyone except GP and luck is with me as my GP treats me for everything and prescribes what I need ... he puts in calls to specialists when he is unsure about something ... I call in for refills or even some medical issues that are repetitive...
I get UTIs fairly often due to the one kidney that doesn't always empty ... I know by feel on exit and smell when I am getting one ... if a couple days of extra water doesn't set things right I call and he sends in Prescription for antibiotics and one for Diflucan because 9 times out of 10 I am gonna get a yeast infection from the antibiotic ... he knows this pattern and after I talk to nurse she talks to him between patients then calls me to say whether it was called in or not ... it always has been ..
the rheumy and neurosurgeon that took over when my surgeon left practice were just lining their pockets with the money I had to pay plus what insurance did ...when insurance changed and I had to foot whole bill I gave them pink slips
Wish my GP was closer to you or that you could find someone to see before November
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Deb oh Deb,
So I typed a message and it exploded, but the gist was that this sucks and its really too bad that you are paying for another Dr's stupid mistake. This never would have happened if he wasn't an idiot. You've been through the ringer and you are not a patient that can be just tossed around from Dr to Dr. I know you will conquer this challenge to, but it would be nice it it wasn't such a struggle!
No good!!!!!
Liz
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Sorry for your troubles Deb.....I am starting to believe gps are morons.
Yesterday i go in for the muscle spasms from the nerve damage from my AN surgery....my dr looks at his computer and proceeds to ask if i have had a tetanus shot...i say no maybe they gave me one before my surgery...he goes What kind of surgery did you have?????OMG i have been seeing this guy for 2 years for all of the after effects and he looks me in the eye and asked that >:(
I am at wits end w/ this muscle spasing....seriously contemplating Gabepenton.
Is this guy a GP? Or a neurologist? There is a great article on post-op hedaches that was written by Dr Leonetti. You can access it by becoming an ANA member for $35.00. I gave a copy to my neurologist who treats my headaches and it was a real eye-opener for him--he had no idea how many things can be the source of the headaches either by themselves or in combination.
Capt Deb
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Yeah, that is why I hate seeing doctors. I really don't trust them anymore.