3 hours of my life that I won't get back.
Timothy R. Yee, AIF, CPFA?, C(k)P?, CHSA, NQPA, CSRIC?, RI(k)
President at Green Retirement, Inc.
Signed up for a new healthcare insurance provider. I was looking to schedule my annual physical and thankfully, the provider had assigned me to a Primary Care Physician, Dr. Ballard. But wait a minute! Dr. Ballard is not accepting new patients. Why would the computer have assigned me to him?
This was the start of a three hour journey in futility through the American Healthcare system. I chose a new doctor, Dr. Ceus (pronounced Seuss! Green Eggs and Ham, anyone?) as the insurance provider website stated that he was accepting new patients. Called his office only to find out that, "NOPE! Not accepting new patients".
Additional calls to doctors on the list produced results including, "He no longer works here", "He only works with pharmacies", and my personal favorite, "His speciality is wound care so call us when you cut open your leg!". An hour long phone with the insurance provider's Customer Service department resulted in two encrypted emails with attachments that did not open and one unencrypted email with a list of doctors. The list included Dr. Ballard and Dr. Ceus.
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Why do we make things so difficult? This is three hours of my life I will not get back. Imagine if I was an hourly worker. Could I really take off three hours to call doctors? And while one might say, "call during your lunch hour", many doctors' offices are closed for lunch. Is it any wonder people give up in frustration? And what then? What happens if a medical condition goes undiagnosed? Preventative care is a lot cheaper than emergency room care yet the undiagnosed condition could wind up in costly care or an emergency room.
While it is easy to pick on US Healthcare industry, the 401k industry can do better. Auto-enrollment is helpful for employees who do not have the time to sign up for the retirement plan or forget. Risk-based and/ or age-based default investment options can be good for those who do not have time to study investments. And auto-increase can help an employee save more over time as they get pay increases or promotions. These features should be more common place.
As for me, I am going to have a small sip of fine Irish whiskey. I think that will be good for my health.