Rant: This is why I hate the for profit medical institution.

[elshiva]

Today I was waiting for my first appointment with a new doctor. In the waiting room with me was one very young mother with a baby about 3 months old. The mother was talking on her cell phone about what was going on. Sam (the baby or another son I don't know she said something about kindergarten, though), her son, had been vomiting and had diahrea for a day or so and it was not getting better.

Anyway, when the receptionist called her, he said, "Sorry, we can't see him today because you owe us $10."

The mother was amazingly calm and answered, "Well, I had to get off from work to get him here, if you can't take him, I'm going to the hospital before he gets dehydrated."

The receptionist got up and went away. And another woman, who was not related to the mother but was knitting a baby booty while waiting for her husband, was like, "We can't see you!!! Ten dollars!" Frustrated but still calm.

Finally the receptionist came back and said, "Okay, we'll see him today as long as you come in tomorrow with the money."

The fucking nerve of these people! "No, we'd rather bicker over money than try to help your baby." Screw that I'm not going back there. Unfortunately, that is what I have encountered with the doctors. MONEY! MONEY!

[Beausoir]

1. Over $10? That sounds unbelievable.

[elshiva]

3. It does, but it happened. They said that she originally only owed

$20 to begin with! She paid some of it off, but keeps getting the same check.

[SeattleGirl]

2. That is so wrong!

Never mind if your baby is sick, or dehydrated, or whatever. WE WANT OUR $10!!!!!

Assholes!

[elshiva]

6. How much is a baby's life worth anyway?

All this bruhaha over the abortion issue, but once they come out, God help them...

:(

[SeattleGirl]

9. Well, I think there is no such thing as pro-life; they are pro-fetus,

but after the baby is born, forget it!

[Clintonista2]

13. EXACTLY! BINGO!

Let's put this into perspective. Let's assume they really, genuinley consider a fetus to be a "life", and they really really do respect life. Then why not full medical coverage for children? Why support the death penalty?

[Clintonista2]

4. Yea, my dad recently moved to the states and

he was very surprised that he has to pay a 20$ fee just to see a doctor.

[elshiva]

7. Where is your Dad from?

[Clintonista2]

10. Canada

[elshiva]

11. What do they do up there? I had a professor who talk Christian

Medical Ethics who always boasted about how good it is in Canada (he was a very liberal Catholic Canadian).

[Clintonista2]

12. You go to the doctor and

give them your health card, which they swipe through a machine, that's it! If it's something as simple as just going to see a doctor, you can usually get same day appointments. If not, there are plenty of walk in clinics, which are free aswell.

[elshiva]

14. OH BUT THAT'S SOCIALISM!!!!

:sarcasm:

I don't care what you want to call it sounds good.

[Wapsie B]

5. That really is so wrong.

But I gotta tell ya non-profit is such a misnomer it's pathetic. They've got they're hands out just the same, not always in the same way as in your case but they're there.

[elshiva]

8. I've heard that too. I think they got you in a weak and

desparate sport (your baby is sick) so they can milk you.