[Anonymous August 28, 1997 at 1:57 am Post count: 93172]

#1157613

Well, Miriam, I wasn’t disturbed about you writing about your bad
experience with your doctor because I could tell you were upset.
My experience has been that when someone is that upset, it is usually
with good cause.

It’s one thing for a doctor not to have all the answers. It’s another
thing entirely for them to be unwilling to go and get the answers.
Unfortunately, it sounds to me as if one of two things may be going on.
It could be that they are simply ignorant about the nuances of Graves’
disease and too arrogant to admit it. Or, it could be that they don’t
want to admit how bad your situation is because then they would have
to spend more money treating you for which the HMO is not going to
reimburse them. The reason I suspect the latter is that the primary
care doctor gave you so much flak until you guys had to threaten to
report him to the HMO for bad care.

You also make a very good point that sometimes, people who have
traditional indemnity health insurance are not aware that people who
belong to HMOs have to work within the framework of a huge number of
arbitrary rules. And, even with most big employers, people can usually
change their health insurance choice only once a year during an open
enrollment period. Unfortunately, some employers offer nothing but
HMOs from which to choose.

Which brings me to Infomaniac’s First Law of Health Insurance: Never,
never sign up for an HMO if you have an indemnity plan that you can
afford as a choice. Unfortunately, there are two tricky things in that
law; having an indemnity plan as a choice, and having an affordable one
as a choice.

Unfortunately, a lot of people don’t find out how HMOs make those
bucketfuls of money until they are unfortunate enough to get sick.
Then they may have to wait a year to change to indemnity insurance or,
if they are less fortunate, won’t have it as a choice then, either.

I have to say that as someone who is well aware of how HMOs work, I
have an enormous amount of sympathy for your situation. May I make a
suggestion? Some HMOs have a person whose job is to be a “patient
advocate” who helps patients negotiate in situations like yours. You
might try calling the HMO administrative offices and asking about it.

I hope you won’t give up on this bulletin board just because of a
difference of opinion from one person.

I hope you’re having a better day when you read this.

[Anonymous August 28, 1997 at 4:56 am Post count: 93172]

#1054006

Miriam

I have had some awful stuff happen to me lately concerning my GD Eye problems and other wierd health concerns.

My husband found this BB cite for me and it has been helpful for me because people were able to answer questions and concerns that I had that made things easier for me to understand. Maybe I was lucky but they did understand and they put my mind at ease. They also seemed to care which was great. Who knows maybe it was just good timing when I asked my questions. Maybe it was a freak thing the doctors did not understand or maybe want to believe me but since I was not making it up and I knew I wasn’t depressed I kept looking for answers.

Now that the crisis that got me to the BB has now passed and I am getting my energy back I am grateful that the one thing that I have learned from all of this is that I am going to be more aware of my Graves Disease and not be so passive about my care. I had previously thought that I was being a good patient, trying to get well but now I am begining to see what my responsibilites are in getting a handle on this situation. Yeah, I will have to do things that I really did not want to do like find a different health care provider and do research on Graves Disease. I really wanted to kick back and enjoy my family, start up a hobby, play on the computor, watch cooking shows on TV, remodel the house etc but for me to be there I must do some things that I don’t like to do.

Hope things start getting better for you.

Michele

P.S. When I talked to my son (the one with ADHD) about some of this stuff, he said I just need to “Keep the Faith” cause that what he does.

[Anonymous August 28, 1997 at 9:17 am Post count: 93172]

#1157614

Miriam:
Sorry that so much is happening to you .
It’s now easy having small children and not being able to do the things that you would like to do with them.
With small children and only one working I know it is hard to make ends meet. HMO needs to improve that’s for sure.
All of us should remember that at times this is the only place that you can exploded and NOT GET ANY BACK SLASH FROM IT especially when you are not able to get out and there is NO ONE ELSE.
I would rather to have someone vent here and get it off their chest than to take it out on the love ones that already are also going through so much.
Give your kids and hubby a hug and God be with you and your family. Somethimes it so easy to be angry but remember that God is with you even at times when we feel so forgotten.

[Anonymous September 3, 2000 at 9:22 am Post count: 93172]

#1157615

~scowl~

~confused look~

~raise of an eyebrow~

IM TIRED!!!! WOWWWW!!!!!!!! IM ACTUALLY TIRED!!!!

but my hair wont stop coming out.
my eyes are like bugeyes….
and my teeth are fuzzy..oh wait. that’s cuz I’m tired and need to brush my teeth.

I am curious…is it me, or does anyone else want to take up kick boxing? God help the poor sod who got into the ring with any of us GD’er’s….*tee hee*

im tired….Immmmmmmm tirrrrrred….wowwww!!!! (t’has been a few days…)

I know y’all don’t even know me, but just thought I’d share that.
Now..DIDNT That just make your day. You CAN go on with your day now.

*((((hugs))))*
Heidi

(anyone else dream in cartoon?)

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