Outrageous fees for Lab work

My doctor will not give you your lab orders until almost close to your appointment date. Her staff said this is because most patients tend to lose them so to call a week before. That is exactly what I did last Monday. Had to call them on Tuesday and again on Wednesday before they finally had them ready. I was pretty pissed off because on Wednesdays I buy a lunch plate from this lady that I have mentioned on prior blog posts. I wanted to eat it without it affecting my lab results, in particular, my cholesterol test. So no dice had to save my plate for another day and settle for yet another salad :-(

It is a good thing I went early to Val Verde Regional Medical Center as it takes longer to fill out the paperwork than it does to get your labs done. I was given the bad news that as of January 2017 they no longer offered labs at $40.00 each for people like myself that do not have insurance.

The doctor had never ordered five tests before, I will ask her when I see her but I think her nurse messed up. To make a long story short they came at a cost of $1,197.32 but if I paid using a credit card they would give me a 50 percent discount and it would only cost $598.00 ...she told this to me with a straight face! Are they crazy? Do I look like a millionaire?  Told her I would have to go talk to my doctor because there was no way I could afford this with or without their generous discount.

That is exactly what I did but of course you only get to talk to the staff as she is with patients. They told me I did not have to get the test I was questioning but I needed the other four.  I had already made up my mind to have them done In Ciudad Acuna, Coahuila, Mexico whether they liked it or not but she was agreeable.

Went home to pick up my passport and off I went on my unplanned trip to Mexico. The price for all five tests was $1,365.00 Mexican Pesos at an exchange rate of $17.00 pesos to one US dollar $80.29.  By crossing the border I saved $517.71 US dollars.

It takes three hours to get the results so decided to treat myself to a trip to the beauty shop. I have been tinkering with the idea of highlighting my hair but chickened out at the end. She did give me some soft subtle ones and I am happy with them. Haircut, dye, style, facial wax and tip came to $500.00 Mexican Pesos for a US dollar equivalent of $29.41. I think I made out like a bandit on both instances.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.