15 years ago,.. I was in an assisted medical plan for working poor...
You could walk in, without an appointment, see a doctor within an hour,... get blood tests and x-rays if needed in the same building at the same time, the doc would read the results, and if you needed medication, stitches, a cast, or minor surgery, it was taken car of, and the pharmacy was in the the building too...
$25.00 for a visit... at $250 a visit, it would still be a bargain...
.. but the point is,... it was fast, efficient, and economical, quality care...
The way the system is setup now,... it is designed to cost a lot and create waste and redundancy...
An efficient system could cost a fraction, and be much better than the snake and ladder system we have now...
This system is designed to make profit, not render care...
Whew!,... Thanks for the rant...

...
PS,... Jerry, thank you for your advice and concern,... I'm in the process of changing her primary,... she has quite a few medical problems and has 3 other regular doctors...
It just shouldn't be like this... I don't handle BS bureaucracy very well...
anyone remember how this all started to "curb health care costs" and somehow that didn't get much support and then it became "health insurance reform".
I would guess that a significant part of our medical costs are caused by malpractice insurance, defensive testing, and insurance paperwork staff.
Jerry, it is great that your manager was able to get insurance, but the downside is the other things brought into the equations such as reduced medicare payments, coverage of 26 yo "children", illegal aliens.
Typical Govt solution, use a sledghammer to drive a tacka nd tie every bell and whistle onto it whether we want it or not.