Re: the medical community needs some fixin

[Guest guest]

At 07:38 PM 3/27/2002 -0800, you wrote:

>hi, i'm new.

>

>Anyhow, I think it's horrible how the insurance companies seem to want to

>prevent as much access as possible. And sometimes doctors are no help

>either.

, this is SO true! I have had chronic ear infections all of my

life, tonsils out at age 15. It wasn't until I was nearly 30 that I was

told I might have allergies. I developed asthma when I was 37 due to these

allergies. During all of this time, I was growing a big honkin' c-toma,

but it wasn't found until at least a year later--probably had been growing

for about a decade. My internist never found it, although I developed a

middle and outer ear infection that was leaking like a faucet and had

caused the entire left side of my face and neck to swell. I was on a

triple antibiotic regimen when that happened and it didn't clear up for

almost a month. He told me that I could see a specialist " if I wanted

to " . I had amazingly good insurance coverage at the time--fee for

service. I was in a PPO which didn't require any sort of paperwork to see

a specialist, paid 90 percent of said specialist's fees. I repeat, I

didn't have to get permission from anyone to get care, nor did my primary

care doctor.

It is so wrong to suffer from chronic infections for almost 40 years

without someone asking why. As you also point out, it isn't very cost

effective to pay for multiple surgeries when a hearing aid is less

traumatic and far less expensive.

Diane Brunet