Why am I paying for someone else’s ineptitude?
Back on December 18, I had my annual mammogram. On January 22, I got a phone call from my doctor. She said I needed a follow up mammogram because there was something that was found on the first one. I wound up wondering how bad it was for five whole days until my next appointment when I got to see the original image that they were concerned about.
The image was of my left breast, and you could very definitely see these white bean shapes up near … basically my arm pit. This is totally not what I expected. They said my mammogram had an anomaly and I just assumed it was in my breast. I even did a breast self exams all weekend (and found nothing of course.)
Well after all that second batch of squishing AND an ultrasound “just to be sure,” they let me go with a clean bill of health.
As I left I thought about how problematic and stressful the whoe process is once a year. I know they can use other techniques for diagnosis (MRIs, and Ultrasounds) which seem to the uninformed as more accurate, and a lot less uncomfortable. I knew it’s a cost “savings” measure on the part of the insurance companies – i.e. what they’ll pay.
Then I put it out of my mind. Until today.
I apparently OWE $281.21 …and probably counting (That’s just the radiology/lab cost, not the cost for the MDs to read the darn thing – I think I paid an extra $57 or so for that). The insurance covered a whopping $137.52 of the bill. I’m one of the lucky ones that can cover this. What if I couldn’t? Would I just NOT have procedure done and wonder if I’m a ticking time bomb until I develop cancer? And it wasn’t even my “fault” – nothing was wrong with my body at the time of the original mammogram, the technician just didn’t do her job correctly the first time.
It’s no wonder that people in this country are broke… we have to keep paying for other people’s mistakes and stingy insurance companies.