Talk about a run-around! What a bunch of BS!!!

I have been trying to have gastric weight loss surgery for the last several years. Everybody from doctors to friends said go see Dr. X. he’s the best. So I did. The first time was almost 2 years ago. I saw both him and his nutrition lady. His story at that time was that I was definitely a candidate for a bypass, but medicare and/or medicade wouldn’t cover it at that time, but that was soon to change and as soon as it did, they would call me. I told my wife Mary after we left that Dr. X didn’t act like he wanted to do it because of my medical history, and that I thought he was just stringing me along so he could bill for the office calls, But we went with it. Sure enough, several months later they called. At the next visit (with him and the nutrition lady again of course) they decided maybe the gastric band would be better for me. They went ahead and scheduled the required 2 psych visits. Why the psych visits you ask? Maybe they think you’re crazy to let someone cut into you just because you’re fat? I don’t know but that’s the requirement so I did it. A week or so after that I went back to see Dr. X. This time the story was that I was definitely a candidate, but the hospital was not certified through medicare/medicade as a “Center of excellence” yet, but they were working on it. So he said to see my family Dr. and get started on the required 6 month supervised diet, attend one of his “Support group” meetings, (Another chance for him and his nutrition people to bill medicare/medicade?) and come back in 3 months. So I set this “supervised diet” up with my family Dr. and the nutrition lady there. I went in and got weighed and met with them once a month. At the 3 month mark I went back to see Dr. X and his nutrition lady. Long story short everything was going as planned, but maybe instead of the lap band, a vertical banded surgery was the ticket. Dr. X said to finish out my 6 month supervised diet, and since I hadn’t yet managed it to be sure I attended 1 of his “support group” meetings, and then come back and we’ll get surgery scheduled. So I do all this, and when I go up on the appointed date and he says that he won’t do my surgery because of my other health issues (That I told him about up front at our first meeting and that were in my records all along) Now he says my best bet is the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota! Yeah Right! That’s a 6-7 hour drive each way! Like I’m going to go through all this again with that much of a drive each way. Yes, I’m discussed! Not that he won’t do it, but why not tell me no right up front? Here’s what I think.

Dr. X office visits 5 @min.30 minutes each total 2 ½ hrs Office calls billed to medicare/medicade 5
Same day same place
His nutrition lady visits 5 @min.30 minutes each total 2 ½ hrs Office calls billed to medicare/medicade 5
120 miles one way, total miles traveled in all 5 trips, 1200 (20 hrs. travel time)

My family Dr. visits 6 @min.30 minutes each total 2 ½ hrs Office calls billed to medicare/medicade 6
Same day same place
Nutrition lady visits 5 @min.30 minutes each total 2 ½ hrs Office calls billed to medicare/medicade 6
25 miles (30 min. travel time) one way total miles 300 (total travel time 5 hours)

Psych lady visits 2 @ 2 hrs, each total 4 hours Office calls billed to medicare/medicade 2
120 miles (2 hrs. travel time) one way Total miles 480 (total travel time 8 hours)

Support group 1 @ 2 hrs. visits billed to medicare/medicade 2 (1 Dr. 1 nutrition people)
120 miles (2 hrs. travel time) one way Total miles 240 (total travel time 4 hours)

Totals

Time in Drs. offices with an average time of 30 min. per visit, at least 13 hours. ( Many were waaay more than 30 min!)
Drive time 37 + hours in all (Again many trips took longer due to road construction, weather, ect.)
Time in waiting rooms, incalculable!
Total time invested on my part, at least 53 hours
Total Miles traveled 2220
Total fuel expense with gas averaging $2.50 per gallon. My van gets 16.5 mpg. $336.36
Total Office calls billed to medicare/medicade 26

All for the word no?! Because of things that were in my record all along? Was all this really necessary?

Yes! This is the way to save medicare! The Government cuts back how much they pay per visit, the Doctors just string things out so you have to make more visits. NICE! And even if you get your fuel reimbursed, that’s just more expense on the system, and what about wear and tear? They don’t reimburse that. Why is it that it seems our time & trouble mean nothing to some people, as long as they get theirs?