As Roseanne Roseannadanna would always say “It just goes to show ya…it’s always something! If it’s not one thing, it’s another!”
Well now that I’m feeling much better, I can get back to my normal routine of whining and complaining. After all that is what I do best. Plus it’s windy and cold outside, and not conducive for a bike ride, so I’ve got plenty of time on my hands.
Yesterday at work we had Sarbannes Oxley (SOX) training, for which I had to attend. I thought SOX was about financial accountability, so why in the world would manufacturing, quality and metallurgy need to be in attendance?
Well as it turns out [at least how I interpret it], SOX is nothing more than AS9100, but with accounting factored in, and we have to write a[nother] manual documenting everything we do from order taking, to production, to shipping, to invoicing etc.
So I’m sitting there bored to death, thinking why in the world are we going through this, when it’s basically already done. The only people who needed to be there are the accounting department, and the only procedures that need to be written relate to accounting.
And on top of all this, we have to be audited quarterly to SOX. Isn’t it enough we do internal audits twice a year for AS9100, and an annual surveillance audit? Now we have more audits to contend with. At least we’re being spared the big SOX surveillance audit by an independent outside auditor, since we are pretty small (42 employees), and are technically now under the control of another division within the company.
Oh well, I guess I’d better start getting use to this, now that I’m working for a BIG company. Useless time spent in meetings, and doing other things hampering me from completing the work that needs to be completed to produce the products our customers want.
And then last night, I come across this post on the NHL (non-hodgkins lymphoma) message board
My out of pocket max for insurance, calendar year 7/1-6/30, is $1,000.00 As of 9/2/2009, after 4 weeks of rituxan at over $250 a pop, my OOP was met, yet, I kept getting bills for 5% owed on CT Scans and PET Scans. I overpaid $192.24 and have it all in black and white. 6 times I called my insurance company, 6 times was connected to a “Resolution Specialist” and 6 times was told, we’re right and you’re wrong. So April 14th, they finally admitted I was right and ya know what they did? They sent the checks to the Doctors!!!! Now begins my fight with the Doctors to collect MY money!
So anyway, I had an appt with my oncologist today, keep in mind I’ve been told all along that I have to have scans every 3 months until 2 years has passed. My first R-CHOP session was 4/14/08. Now I don’t know about you but by my calculations, this month is 2 years!!?? So my last scan was 1/18/2010 (NED) which would put my next scan this month, or so you’d think, right? So she sits there and schedules my next scan in July (beginning of next insurance calendar year) I just lost it, I said “wait a **** minute, that’s 6 months and you told me every 3 months for two years, why the sudden change?” She looked at me like I was insane!! How very convenient that it would have put me in a new calendar year and I’d have had to pay another 5% or the CT scan.
And this is the system so many people are fighting tooth and nail to protect. This would not be a problem in any other country in the world. Only in the US is it a problem.
First off, despite having NHL, CT scans every three months is way too often. I haven’t had one in over 5 years, and why would I? No matter what results it produced I still wouldn’t start treatment, so why risk the radiation exposure.
And secondly doesn’t she see this is one of the reasons health care is so expensive in this country. When health care is put in the same category as any other commodity, health care providers are driven by the profit motive to order tests and procedures, whether needed or not. Remember health care providers don’t get paid for doing nothing.
And this problem is further exacerbated by the constant squeezing of health care providers by health insurers [also a profit driven industry] to work for less and less compensation, which then leads to more unnecessary tests and procedures, forcing even the most ethical doctors and health care providers to reconsider what is in their own interest in order just to survive.
It’s a never ending cycle, constantly feeding on itself, and at the same time increasing costs and reducing the quality of the care everyone receives.
I know I’ve said it before, but eventually the entire system will implode, until at some point the only people who will be able to afford health care, will be the very rich, and those that have perpetuated this abomination of a health care system, and even they will likely end up having to go overseas if they want to receive anything close to quality health care.
Oh well, such is life. At least I am feeling better now that I’ve got that off my chest.
