Shooting Up
So let’s talk about vaccinations.
I’m in the midst of planning my trip to Perú. Well, at this point it’s more than just planned, I suppose. Dates have been set, tickets have been bought, necessary gear acquired… It’s finally more than just a plan, it’s going to happen. So one of the considerations needed for travel to Peru are vaccinations. This will be my first trip to South America, and I’ve never worried about things like this before. In fact, I never do. I don’t ever go to the doctor because I don’t get sick. Other than getting a quick physical for my job, I don’t think I’ve been to the doctor since I was about to enter high school… 12 years ago, and I don’t even know the last time I went because I was actually sick. So I’ve never worried about health issues much. But I decided, since I have insurance, I’m paying for it, I might as well get something out of it. It would be silly to pay for the coverage (which was required by my employer) and not get the free benefits out of it, especially when it’s for the prevention of possible Hell if I were to contract something while in S.A.
My God. If all my dealings with the medical profession are going to be as bad as this morning, this is likely going to be my last visit for a long time again. It started yesterday, when I decided to go to a local clinic to try to take care of some of this. I got online, went to my insurance provider’s page to find a doctor that they’ll cover, and found one around the corner. I go up there to find that they don’t stock travel meds, and that I should contact the local county health department. They would have all the shots I need. Unfortunately, since it was Sunday, they weren’t open, but would be at 8am Monday. So here I am today, woke up bright and early to give them a call and try to get this taken care of. First attempt…. No answer. “What the Hell?” I think. It’s 9 at this point, what’s going on? So I give it a few minutes and try back, and get someone. I tell them I need some travel shots and need to know whether I need to make an appointment or not. “Hold on, let me transfer you to the clinic.” Ok, fine. Someone else picks up the phone, give them the same shpeel. “Hold on, let me transfer you to the travel clinic.” Hm. Ok, 3rd tries the charm, right? Third person of the call, explain it all again… “We don’t do travel shots. Normal immunizations, yes, but not for travel.” Oh really? At the “travel clinic” I was supposedly just transferred to? Fantastic. So she tells me to try one of the hospitals.
So before continuing, I decide to call my insurance company to ensure what’s covered. This is no easy task. I’m greeted by an automated message asking me for my pertinent information, what I’d like to do, what I want to know… I just want to talk to a real person. I don’t want to sit here listening to message prompts to select the right number to take me to the right department to listen to more prompts to choose more numbers to find out what I want to know. I just want to talk to someone that will answer my question for me. After going through this initial shit, it asks if I want to continue in automated mode, or talk to a representative. I choose to talk to a representative. Then, it tells me I need to answer more automated questions in order to connect me with the appropriate person. What the fuck. 3 minutes. 3 fucking minutes of automated messages and pushing numbers before it finally lets me talk to someone. But I found out what I needed to know. The shots are indeed covered. Yay.
So this is where I start to get frustrated. The problem is, as I’ve been finding out, there’s only certain clinics that deal with travel vaccines. I found a list of these clinics in Michigan online. I have a funky schedule, so I’m trying to figure out the best place to go, factoring in when they open, how long everything is going to take, when I have to leave for work, how long my drive to work is, whether there’s anything on the way, whether there’s anything closer to my work, and which places are covered by my insurance. Naturally, there are very few options which work best for me. Why would there be? Why would this be easy? The most options are the wrong direction from where I need to be for work, and most others are in completely different parts of the state, making them not viable. So I finally find one, on my way, so I’ll give it a shot. Answering machine. Not open on Monday’s. Argh. Back to the list. I find another one near my work, but, of course, the insurance’s webpage and search engine is not the easiest to navigate. Not finding what I need to know, I call them again to check if this clinic is covered. 3 more minutes of automated messages to talk to someone. Yes, they are in the “network”. Good. Call the clinic up to find out the scoop. Another automated message giving me the rundown, in the course of which it becomes unclear whether they accept insurance payments for travel vaccines. So I wait, again, to talk to someone. Turns out no, they do not bill my insurance company. What the fuck. They just told me you were good to go. Call the insurance company, AGAIN. 3 more minutes of automated messages to talk to a person. So here’s the deal. I need to go to the clinic, get my shit done, pay for it out of pocket, fill out the paperwork, send in a claim, and the insurance company will reimburse me for everything minus my co-pay. Son of a bitch. What a pain in the ass, but at least it’s covered, I guess. So back to calling the clinic to set up an appointment. Hey, guess what? I can get an appointment tomorrow morning! At…. 8 am…. At a clinic by my work, an hour away from home, and 6 hours before I need to be to work, and I told people I’d go to the bar tonight. Dammit. Completely going to fuck up my day tomorrow, and after wasting 3 hours today dealing with it. I woke up early so that I’d be able to still do other shit today. Not gonna happen. Not gonna happen tomorrow either. But at least I won’t get Typhoid, I guess….
Tags: Preparations, Travel, vaccinations
nerokerr1
Jessica M.
I’m sorry for little off-topic, but I want to ask you about design of this site. Did you make this template yourself or got from any templates website? Looks pretty cool for me 🙂
It’s based off a template provided me by the blog host, http://www.bootsnall.com. I think it’s a standard WordPress style template.