Tag: obamacare

Importance of Going to Reputable Doctors After a Car Wreck

A few of the main reasons it is crucial to get an honest reputable doctor when dealing with getting compensation for medical bills after a wreck is that a doctor who is dishonest might:

Falsify Reports: For instance, your doctor might put in his daily report on your treatment that you are getting better to make him look like he is actually treating you successfully. I personally encountered this where I told the doctor I was experiencing a pain level of 7 and he reported that I said a 5. This could come back to haunt you when attempting to reach a settlement, because if an official doctor’s report says you are better, your word that you are still in pain is not taken seriously.

TIP: ALWAYS CHECK WHAT THE DOCTOR’S REPORT SAYS. ASK FOR A COPY EVERY NOW AND THEN. IT IS YOUR RIGHT!

Rack-up Medical Bills: Simply because a doctor knows that you are not self-pay and an insurance company is paying, they will try to get the most out of the situation. This may include charging for services never rendered or giving you too much treatment that is not really beneficial to your health like seeing you five times a week instead of three.

TIP: BE THE CONCERNED PATIENT & ASK WHY YOU ARE RECEIVING A CERTAIN COURSE OF TREATMENT.

If something like this were to happen your insurance company may refuse to pay and stick you will the bills or they make attempt to call the doctor behind your back to negotiate you bill which makes for a very uncomfortable situation when you to go back and see this doctor.

If the doctor is unethical he/she may be passive aggressive about the occurrence which could lead to mistreatment or loss of medical records as in my case. So even though you are not paying your bills, it is a good idea to keep up-to-date on what services and products your doctor is charging you.

Won Treat Need Properly: When all you might need is a few minor services or medications your doctor may order un-needed expensive tests which are not conducive to your health.

Waist of Time and Money: If your doctor is not concerned about your health and doesn’t listen to your pain, then you are loosing out on a small window of opportunity in which you are more susceptible to achieving a full recovery. This is something no amount of money can compensate for. Only go to a doctor who listens to you and is willing to treat your need and not his/her needs.

TIP: IF SOMETHING IS FISHY ABOUT THE WAY DOCTOR IS TREATING YOU, MAKE SURE YOU ASK FOR ALL MEDICAL RECORDS BEFORE ACTUALLY DISCONTINUING SERVICE, BECAUSE AFTER YOU ARE NO LONGER A PATIENT THEY WILL NOT BE AS WILLING TO WORK WITH YOU.

How Do I Make Sure a Doctor is NOT a QUACK?

So if you are not quite certain which doctor to go to, make sure you check them out before you trust your wellbeing to just anybody. There is a LOT OF QUACKS out there unfortunately.

ASK A FRIEND or someone who has gone to the doctor you are looking into seeing if they had a good experience with their treatment.

CHECK out their HISTORY on Better Business Bureau or do a quick web search. Make sure you check if your doctor is legit having a current license to practice and board certification. Where to find this info depends on what state you are in, but you could probably find this info on your state’s department of health website. It is public record if a doctor has any pending lawsuits against their practices.

However, it is quit unfortunately that even after you have done all of these preventative measures you still may find yourself in a non-working doctor-patient relationship. My advise to you is the quicker you get out, the better.

Tips If You Think You Are Being Treated By a Fishy Doctor

1. CHECK IF THIS PERSON IS ACTUALLY LICENSED AND/OR BOARD CERTIFIED.

2. BE THE CONCERNED PATIENT & ASK WHY YOU ARE RECEIVING A CERTAIN COURSE OF TREATMENT OR A CERTAIN MEDICATION.

3. ALWAYS CHECK WHAT YOUR DOCTOR’S REPORT SAYS. ASK FOR A COPY EVERY NOW AND THEN. IT IS YOUR RIGHT! IF IT DOESN’T MAKE UP WITH WHAT YOU HAVE BEEN REPORTING, THEN SOMETHING IS OFF.

4. MAKE SURE YOU ASK FOR ALL MEDICAL RECORDS BEFORE ACTUALLY DISCONTINUING SERVICE, BECAUSE AFTER YOU ARE NO LONGER A PATIENT, THEY WILL NOT BE AS WILLING TO WORK WITH YOU.

What Type of Doctor Should I See After A Minor Accident?

The first thing to do is immediately after an accident is without hesitation, go directly to the emergency room. If an ambulance is not called, then have a friend take you. If you take yourself, then the legitimacy of your physical injuries might be questioned.

While you are at the ER, be sure that you actually get to see a doctor and not just a physician assistant. If X-rays are not taken, request them without being stuck up or bossy. Also, be aware that you will be treated differently due to that most ER personal will not want to get personally involved in your case so to avoid a legal case associated with most auto accidents. So, having said this, you sometimes have to be insistent with your treatment because you may have a serious injury that could be overlooked.

The next thing to do would be to follow the recommendation of the ER physician who will more than likely tell you that if you are not feeling better within the following “x” days, you should see your personal physician.

Regardless of whether you have a personal physician you should make sure you see an MD as opposed to an OD or chiropractor whom are not taken as seriously by insurance companies. However, this is not to say that after you see an MD you cannot go to a chiropractor. If possible and you are suffering with a soft tissue damage and have intentions of going to a chiropractor, get your MD to recommend one to you so this conversation will go in your medical records. This will come in handy in the future when the insurance company attempts to say they will not pay because you are not seeing an MD or physical therapist.

What is An Uninsured Motorist Claim?

If you caused an accident and didn’t have insurance the other driver will be able to file an uninsured motorist claim (UMC). Their insurance company will pay for all the things yours would have.  Then the other driver’s insurance company will turn the matter over to their subrogation department. The Subrogation department will contact you about paying them back. Do not ignore them because they can have your drivers license suspended, sue you or turn you over to collections.

However, this department will be willing to set up an interest free payment plan for you to repay them for all they paid their driver. Most likely they will want at least around $ 100 per month until the debt is paid in full. If you miss payments they suspend your license, sue you or turn you over to collections. The other thing you can do is see if the subro dept will accept a lesser lump sum. For example: you owe them lets say $ 10,000 they may be willing to take 7,000 if you pay it as a lump sum. They would rather get a little less all at once than collect the full $ 10,000 100 dollars at a time. Can you dispute the amount they want? No not really. They paid it you owe it. ** This is not legal advice ***

Antidepressant Drugs Used For Pain Management After a Car Wreck

In my personal experience, after my auto accident, the neurologist I began seeing quickly wanted to prescribe me medication. He told me they were for pain management ONLY and would NOT assist in healing my injury. What he did not tell me was that what he prescribed me was an antidepressant drug. I was prescribed Lexapro and I believe Norpramin. Yes, I do understand that these antidepressant drugs tend to work best for pain associated with nerve damage, but he lead me to believe they were something they were not. This was scary for me. Antidepressants play a dual role and they can be very tricky to use.

I now a friend who was prescribe Elavil for the exact same symptoms and she began to experience serious side-effects including major weight gain. Now, your doctor will tell you that one drug might not be right for you and you will have to find this via trial and error and then you will have to determine the dose works best for your body with an experiment of taking more and then less of a drug.

I don’t know about you, but this seems very dangerous to me. If your own doctor does not know who, if, when, a drug will work and you have to be a Guinea pig to the drug, I am a bit skeptical of taking something that will NOT even help your pain, but ONLY manage it – per Dr. orders.