Acquiring my test results
I recently acquired the results of some blood work that I had done in October of last year. The fact that it took me this long is more a reflection on the family practice that drew my blood rather than on me. While I did like my doctor there, the experience of dealing with them turned me off enough that I will not be returning. To wit, I had to make two separate appointments for my physical and for bloodwork: apparently having me in an office filled with needles and vials was not enough for them to take my blood.
Instead I had to return to the exact same office on a different day. Inconvenient for me, but also financially wasteful, since they were then able to charge me two co-pays and double bill the insurance company. It’s a nice scam, but I wasn’t impressed. Then there was the fact that they would not mail me my test results, instead requiring that I come in to get them. Two reasons for this, I’d assume. One is that they wanted me to make another’s doctor’s appointment (mmm, co-pays) to go over the results (before they even knew if there was anything in the results worth talking about). The other was that they charge one dollar per-page for PRINTING my test results. Standard laser printing, one dollar per page. They almost charged me for three pages, even though the third page has nothing on it, but I guess common sense overrode greed for a moment.
I have issues with healthcare compensation in this country in general, but a family care practice that seems structured to extract the most possible money from patients and insurance companies really rubs me the wrong way. They managed to get an extra twenty-two dollars out of me, but they won’t be getting any more.