Beaurocracy Strikes Again...

I spent most of today, rainy and overcast, on the telephone between the medical clinic and the adaptive seating specialist trying to solve the mystery of the missing LMN (Letter of Medical Necessity), which the vendor for my theoretically upcoming new chair called to inquire about last week.

After obtaining and sending the vendor a prescription, I discovered that the Adaptive Seating person had sent the LMN to the doctor almost one month ago but had as of yet no response or signature. Both the signed LMN and the prescription are required to go with additional paperwork from the vendor to my insurer, so this almost-month-long delay has been costly in terms of time for me, wear on my wrists and general waste of energy.

It turns out that the mysteriously missing LMN was sitting unopened in the doctor's mailbox, while the doctor is out of the clinic. The nurse and administrative assistant found it in short order following a call from me today. The Adaptive Seating Specialist, a consummate professional, has been notified, and the doctor's staff was also professional and courteous to call me and let me know the document had been located and would be signed by the doctor's colleague straight away in order to avoid further delay.

I can only hope dealing with my insurer will be this easy. (All puns intended).

This leads me to ponder the creation of our behemouth and often lumbering health care system...

-When and how did everything become such a beaurocratic nightmare?
-Are the industries supporting this system so over run with lobbyists that our politicians kiss their behinds or cave under immense pressure?
-Will things improve if we adopt a single payor system similar to Medicare?
-Whatever happened to the concept of "patient-centered" care? Has this been irrevocably lost or did we ever have it in the first place?

I can remember a pediatrician making a house call that resulted in a diagnosis of measles for yours truly, but that was sometime during the Ice Age...

Sarcasm aside, if I can get on the phone and straighten this out, I and everyone else reading this can e-mail Mr. Obama, our senators and congress persons and demand change beyond pandering to lobbyists. We can also let our doctors know we don't appreciate being "lost" in a pile someplace while our joints worsen with wear, and thank those who really work to help us out.

I intend to make Obama on down aware of these and other situations by exercising both my pen and the power of free speech, reminding each that while in their larger views I may not matter, my vote certainly does.