I’m now in the New Mexico High Risk Pool which means I have Blue Cross/Blue Shield for insurance rather than Oxford. Every year to 18 months I go to the dermatologist and have my skin checked for skin cancers. I’m a fair skinned red head who lives in N.M. at 7000 feet, and I lost my maternal grandmother to melanoma.
I call the woman I’ve been seeing, and discover she doesn’t take Blue Cross so I’d be out of network. I go to the big book of providers supplied to me by Blue Cross.
I call the first dermatologist on the list. He’s not taking new patients, and his associate (who only works part-time) is taking appointments in February. If I had a cancerous lesion it would be nicely advanced by February.
So I call the second guy on the list. He’s retired and the man who bought his practice won’t take Blue Cross.
I try the third guy. (There are only three listed in the book), he’s not taking any new patients.
I go back to my original doc, and figure I’ll just pay, and then file a claim. I have to meet the deductible anyway.
Now tell me how this is better than my friends in Canada and Australia who make an appointment with a dermatologist, present their card, get it swiped, and see a doctor. I don’t really have any choice. I have long waits to see a doctor.
Yeah, ours is the best health care in the world — bullshit.
