health care rant

[flea]

We're talking about having another child next year. We decided to keep our current insurance level - the broader coverage is $50 more per month for me and Casper (mr. flea is covered through his school). The broader insurance would have covered (mostly, with higher copays, etc.) delivery either through the midwives at the local State U hospital (an excellent practice, I believe they delivered ste_noni's Ellie) or the midwives at the local freestanding birth center. But we decided against it, and decided that instead if we do have a child I'll go with the practice I went with for Casper, despite the fact that they have dropped midwifery coverage and added "aesthetic services," and I wrote them a nasty letter about these actions last year. (One assumes said nasty letter isn't in my medical file!) I tried another local Ob/Gyn but found them sort of "eh" (I asked the NP how the practice felt about natural childbirth and she was all amazed that I'd delivered a baby without an epidural and wanted to do it again) and my former practice at least had worked with midwives for many years, so were midwife-friendly. And their nurses seemed nice.

Except my neighbor who's having a baby next week told me last night that they've now joined forces with another local practice, so there are 10 doctors on the call rotation, so your odds of getting any given doctor when you actually go into labor are 1 in 10. And she discovered that one of the doctors from the other practice had a DUI last summer - she looked up the papers - on a day she was on call, with a BAC that implied 6-8 drinks under the belt, at 4pm, and hit another car and left the scene of the accident. Naturally this incident has not affected her ablity to practice medicine in any way. When my neighbor asked the head doctor of the practice about the DUI, he said that if patients had personal conflicts with any of the doctors the practice encouraged that they communicate and talk it out. Somehow I don't class, "You had a DUI arrest last summer; are you an alcoholic? Are you fit to practice medicine?" to be a 'personal conflict.'

So what the hell is a girl who wants to have a baby supposed to do? I sort of feel like I might as well get no prenatal care and just show up at the hospital when in labor, for all the personal attention I can expect from any of these practices. And carry a hand-held breathalyzer just in case Doctor X is on call. I suppose the real answer is, pick the practice with the best nurses, and hope the L&D nurses at the childbirth-friendly hospital and your doula will manage to overcome the fact that you've barely met the doctor who's delivering the baby.

Comments

[fatoudust.livejournal.com]

Health insurance sucks. The SO & I can barely afford the coverage we've got, and it totally doesn't include maternity in any form at all. (I almost typed conceivable form, but that was just too much with the punny.)

[zonewombat.livejournal.com]

What are "aesthetic services?"

SO glad I left the States to have a baby. I was facing the same sort of situation with my ob/gyn in Virginia. I don't get it.

[casperflea.livejournal.com]

I was afraid it was something like cosmetic surgery for the goolie, but it turns out to mean leg waxing and facials. Which I, for one, do not need at my gyno.

[minim_calibre]

Homebirth?

Seriously, are there other options on your plan you can look into, as it sounds like the practice you went to for Casper has gone seriously downhill?

[casperflea.livejournal.com]

Illegal in this state.

No midwife care available on my plan. As for Ob/Gyns, I can't find much difference among 'em. Ah well, maybe we'll have trouble conceiving and can switch plans for 2007.