Doctor's Appointment - Insurance ain't sh!t

Today I went to the gyno for my annual woman's exam. I was a little late for the appointment even though they told me to show up 15 minutes early because I had to fill out new forms due to my insurance info having changed. After filling out the forms and returning them to the admin behind the plexi-glass, I went back to my seat. I pass the time by logging onto Twitter to see what I missed in the Twitterverse. A couple of minutes later I hear Plexi-glass Girl call my name. I walk up and she gives me my driver's license and insurance card. She then tells me that my co-pay for this visit is $30. WTF?!? Are you serious?? I was there for a normal exam. So I ask her why is it 30 bucks? Isn't this appointment considered a "wellness check?" Preventative care? Nope. She said the gyno is considered a specialist - that's why my co-pay is so high. What kind of crap is that? I've never had to pay that much for a coochie exam!

My previous insurance was Aetna. My new company doesn't offer Aetna; only Kaiser and BCBS. I knew there was no way in hell that I was going to choose Kaiser. I had Kaiser when I was in my 20s and had constant problems with them. Maybe they've gotten their act together since then but I wasn't willing to take that chance. With Aetna I was able to make my gyno my primary care physician. I guess that's how I was able to avoid the high ass co-payments. I guess BCBS doesn't have that option. Crap like this makes me NOT want to go to the doctor. Lucikly I am healthy and don't go to the doctor more than once or twice a year. I would hate to see what would happen if I actually got sick. So I handed her my debit card so that I could take care of my co-pay before my exam. This is some bullcrap!
Part two of this appointment begins with the weigh-in which I completely hate. What woman doesn't? I don't look as the physician's assistant is sliding the weights. I did notice that she was sliding them a little too long for my taste. She writes my weight down and leads me to Exam Room 5. She then asks me my height so I tell her. She hesitates and during that hesitation, I glance over at the paper that she recorded my weight on. Why oh why did I do that? And then I started rationalizing to myself, in my head. It's at the end of the day. I've eaten a days worth of food. I always weigh myself first thing in the morning, butterball naked to get my true weight. So the weight she wrote on that piece of paper doesn't mean a thing.
WRONG!!!!!!!

The doctor walks in and performs the exam. After the exam, my doctor looks at said paper and starts punching in numbers on her laptop. She then looks at me and starts talking about how for someone my height, my BMI is high. And then came the words that made me want to cry and punch her in the face at the same time - morbidly obese. Are you kidding me? I know I need to lose 60 pounds to be at my own personal goal weight. But I never considered myself morbidly obese. When I think of morbidly obese, I think of people who are confined to their beds. Eat over 10,000 calories a day. Food completely runs their life. That's not ME! I workout. I diet EVERY FREAKIN DAY! What the hell? And then she starts looking at me accusingly as if I'm an overeater who has no control. Again, my hand was itching to punch her in the face. She didn't even bother asking me about my diet and exercise regime. She automatically assumed I did neither! She starts talking about how I need to cut out empty calories; no juice or sodas. I don't drink them! I drink water all day, every day except for one cup of tea in the morning. I've cut out breads, I hardly eat red meat. I limit my sugar intake. If anything I need to be more consistent with my workouts.

And then the heifer pooh-poohed the fact that I belong to a gym. This is what she said - People don't go to the gym. You're just wasting your money. Um bitch, I go to the gym! I was heated. I was beyond ready to end the conversation so I just let her continue talking. She told me to read the book Sugar Busters and that I should go to Weight Watchers. How is she gonna tell me that when she didn't even let me tell her what my diet and exercise regime was about? Womp! The angry black woman was rising to the service and on the brink of coming out when she stopped running her mouth and gave me the form to take to the front desk. She lucked out because she didn't know how close she came from getting told the F off!

I was ready to get the HELL out of there. I dressed as fast as I could and pretty much tossed my exam form at the Plexi-glass Girl's face. I got in the car and wanted to cry. A good, long, ugly, self-indulgent cry. But I couldn't because I had to pick up D and take him to soccer practice.

Today has been a crappy day. First I wake up at 2:40am and could not go back to sleep. Apparently my body thinks I only need 4 hours of sleep. I spend all day at work thinking about being at home and sleeping. And then I go to my gyno appt. and deal with high ass co-pays and a bitch for a doctor. I was not emotionally stable to handle this nonsense. I didn't have enough sleep to deal with this. I'm going to try to not let what she said get to me but I know how I am. I'm going to let it fester and simmer until it eats me up inside like an ulcer. 

To top things off I found out today that my company is changing insurances for 2010. What does that mean? I will be having even MORE money taken out of my bi-weekly paycheck with higher co-pays. I better lose this weight or I may not even qualify for coverage at the rate things are going. :SIGH:

Yay me!