Self Serve Check In

My son broke his arm in late June and we both survived our trip to ER and night in the hospital after his late night surgery. The horror came in when we had to return to the clinic to have his real cast put on. I was holding his lunch and way too much paper work when I saw these lines that looked like the DMV. I got in one and people told me I had to check in on the computers. It was one of those screens that you use that little stylus which of course did multiple strokes and I with my one hand, then being helped by my son with one hand as I had to review numerous pages for mistakes and had to sign all those legal forms. After this nightmare you have to stand in line where they have to copy your insurance card and have you sign one form, I guess approving all you did on the computer. I at this moment reached out for one of the stylus only to be told it wasn't a pen and I'm thinking is this efficient? Then they give you a beeper which will beep you when you can go in. The waiting room was packed and of course we waited an hour and a half . Benjamin during this time asked me why we had to wait so long and I told him that since we had cheap insurance we had to wait with everyone else to which he replied, "Why do only the rich people have the good insurance?" I told him that President Obama was working on it and his response, couldn't he have gotten it yesterday?

Now I am grateful that my son is covered and for this I will wait. Many would use this example as what might happen with a government run program for all. I think not, but with the option of going bankrupt over medical bills, I will wait and read my book but this self serve check in needs to somehow be overhauled.

I went in this week to have him X-rayed and had to encounter the same check in. I brought a big bag to put all my papers but still the machine was awful and when I had to correct the spelling of my name the editing features were limited to backspace. I truly wasn't "Merri joyful" about it. Then they had me feed his insurance card into this machine to scan, only to find out it wasn't working that day.

I was hoping this would be my last visit to self serve but they put another cast on my son making us return to this system in 2 weeks. Doing self-serve again is worst than Benjamin having to cancel his birthday party for the second time. Everyone in line was cranky with this self serve and our only voice came in at the end when they asked if we found the "EZ" Checkin easy to use. Of course I had to hit the no button several times for it to register.

So for our next visit, it won't just be my son on pain killers.

Seriously, Please make your voice heard for affordable insurance for all. We are fortunate to have Healthy Families and fortunately the governor hasn't taken money from it though I know there is now a waiting list to get in. I am looking at letting my own coverage cease due to the large cost of my cobra. Let's pray that Congress can get together and pass something soon.