I detest HMO's and now they are thinking of a Nationalized Plan?????

Went first thing this morning to visit my Primary are Physician. One of the toughest parts about managing life when you have a chronic disease with an HMO are all the MD's you need to see, and the wait to see them. A Physiatrist to manage your rehab program, Opthamologist for the eyes, Neurologist for the MS, Physical Therapist, Occupational Therapist and your poor Primary Care Physician who is supposed to manage it all.

I positively detest HMO's with a passion you can't begin to imagine. Not only as a patient but as an RN. Patients should be able to see whichever provider they wish (not be forced to drive 4 hours each way because UCLA is on the HMO's "preferred Provider list" and nothing else closer is) and MD's should be free to practice medicine and prescribe treatments, referrals and drugs BEST for their patients without all the bureaucratic B.S. that comes along with HMO's.


Now Obama wants us all on a Nationalized HMO program. I don't think I need to elaborate how I feel about that at all, so I won't. Goes back to not wanting to unintentionally offend someone.

So, because I have an HMO, I wait. I wait to see if some bureaucrat agrees with my Neurologist that. 1. I need to be seen at UCLA for Tysabri evaluation. (If they deny it guess what? I don't get the drug). 2. Approval of the motorized wheelchair. If they don't agree with both my Neurologist and my Physiatrist, I don't get one. (Unless we shell out the literally THOUSANDS of dollars they are).

My main job now is NOT to focus on any of this while we wait. As per my Neurologist I'm still exacerbating, I don't need stress to make it worse.

I'm also avoiding the news. Geesh....doesn't anything GOOD happen in the world anymore????