Health care

[Ricky12345778910]

About two weeks ago i started having symtopms of std or infection. One week ago on the phone with kaiser after explaining to stranger after stranger my symptoms, i finally get an urgent care appointment. At my appointment i was suprised at how professional the nurse and doctor were because usually they seem to forget i am a fellow human being. The doctor explained to me twice that it would take 2 to 3 days for my chlamydia/gonorreah test results from my urine sample to come back. That was last tuesday its now monday. They are closed on sunday so thats 5 days. Iv been checking and checking my email and kp.org and calling the automated lab results but there are none. So a few minutes ago i call to speek to a representative who assigns me a doctor to call with the results. (I needed to be assigned a new doctor because i have just switched locations) The doctor called not too long after. I confirmed my adress and phone number and she told me my results aren't back yet. I said thats weird because at urgent care the doctor told me it would be 2 to 3 days. She says it takes longer than that for the lab test, about 2 weeks. I said 2 to 3 weeks? And she said 2 weeks. At the end of our conversation she said have a nice day and i hung up feeling lied to. Either she lied to me or the doctor at urgent care lied to me. Or i guess it could have been a mistake by the urgent care doctor but he said 2 to 3 days twice! Does anyone know if there is an average time it should take? (This is my first std test) Im starting to understand that with kaiser they have either for some reason started making alot of mistakes on the exact day i came out to my doctor (which was months after starting testosterone) or their protocol is SEVERELY transphobic. Either way i am constantly being pulled and pushed around anytime i go to the doctor. I try to remind myself that they are just doing their jobs but it seems like they aren't JUST doing their jobs. Some one help this is really pissing me off

[FTMax]

I had to do an STD test as part of the required intake tests at the place that does my HRT. I got the results of all my tests back in under 5 business days.

The thing with Kaiser as I understand it, is that they do everything in house. If you spoke with doctors at two different locations, they may actually have different timelines for when lab results are available. And services do occasionally get overwhelmed by volume. If you only have 2 lab technicians completing tests and inputting the data into patient records, but suddenly have an influx of lab work that is 2-3x the norm, things are going to get backed up. With chain labs like LabCorp, they could easily send stuff to a less busy lab to be completed. I don't think Kaiser functions that way.

I've never heard of anybody having transphobic experiences with Kaiser before, but I'm sure it varies by facility and doctor. You could consider looking on the website for the particular facility you're going to and getting in touch with whoever oversees it.

[Dena]

Welcome to Susan's Place. I didn't know the answer to that one so I looked it up and found this. To get the full range of test you might come close to two weeks. It sounds like the doctor may have gotten the time wrong. Kaiser is supposed to have a really good transgender program from what we have been seeing on the site. They appear to cover many of the requirement of transitioning including therapy, HRT and surgery.

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[becky.rw]

Another fail for the health care reimbursement model in the US.     Understand that I am very supportive of what you feel, and I'm just trying to explain what I think is going on.

The urgent care staff, is URGENT care; they give a lot of verbal info and instruction, many times it'll be wrong and harmless, or wrong and really annoying; but rarely wrong and dangerous.    This instance is wrong and annoying.   If the lab is going to grow a culture, 2-3 days is a very unlikely time frame for results.   So I just have to assume the error is with the verbal instruction.

I don't want to comment on the Kaiser part; as I seem to make people really upset when I talk about our lovely American system...    I doubt they are being discriminatory, but they may have no solid protocol in place to accommodate the added complexity of transgender conditions, thus producing a medical version of Keystone Kops.

[DawnOday]

Looking through the blogs it appears 10 days is not out of the question. and basically SOP. There are some places on the web that claim same day delivery for $25 fee. I belong to Group Health soon to be Kaiser up here in Washington state. I get very good service from Doctors, Nurses, Administrators. The longest I have ever waited was three days. I get lab tested at least once a month with a full panel every three months.

[DawnOday]

Another fail for the health care reimbursement model in the US.     Understand that I am very supportive of what you feel, and I'm just trying to explain what I think is going on.

The urgent care staff, is URGENT care; they give a lot of verbal info and instruction, many times it'll be wrong and harmless, or wrong and really annoying; but rarely wrong and dangerous.    This instance is wrong and annoying.   If the lab is going to grow a culture, 2-3 days is a very unlikely time frame for results.   So I just have to assume the error is with the verbal instruction.

I don't want to comment on the Kaiser part; as I seem to make people really upset when I talk about our lovely American system...    I doubt they are being discriminatory, but they may have no solid protocol in place to accommodate the added complexity of transgender conditions, thus producing a medical version of Keystone Kops.

Sorry but your critique only affects the southern half of  the country. Those that did not implement Obamacare.

Now, federal law prohibits health insurance companies from discriminating against transgender people, and it bars insurers from denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions. That makes it possible for more transgender people to purchase private plans. And in states that expanded their Medicaid programs, those with low incomes may get free coverage.

The federal anti-discrimination regulations have yet to be written, but California insurance regulators have said that companies must treat transgender patients the same as other patients. For example, if plans cover hormones for post-menopausal women, they must also cover them for transgender women. Medicare, the program for the elderly and disabled, lifted its ban on covering sex reassignment surgery earlier this year.

[EmilyRyan]

Sorry but your critique only affects the southern half of  the country. Those that did not implement Obamacare.

And it's gonna get worse in 2017 at least here in Tennessee as premiums are gonna increase 40-60 percent and some counties here already have only one insurance provider. 

[becky.rw]

Medicare, the program for the elderly and disabled, lifted its ban on covering sex reassignment surgery earlier this year.

Isn't that interesting....   My current commitments don't permit me the luxury of the long recovery time.  Last serious surgery I had done on a Friday, and back, doped to the gills in the chair on Monday...  lol.    But after retirement, there might be hope for downstairs after all....

I like and dislike Obamacare, its just that it makes me angry that they punted on an opportunity to bring a real NHS to the US...

[SadieBlake]

OP, conflicting information is pretty normal, be glad I think in this instance it's over a clerical thing rather than say, diagnosis. Did they start you on an antibiotic? That would be reasonable given the same treatment could address either of the STDs suspected.

As to not having a single payer option that happened when Ted Kennedy's seat was taken by a Republican, casualty of the ma Democratic  machine running an unexciting and supposedly sure winner who proceeded to run an unimaginative campaign and predictably lost.

For the want of a nail etc. Obama was then forced to hammer through healthcare that gave the insurance industry effective monopoly in exchange for standardization of coverage, and acceptance of preexisting conditions etc.

[becky.rw]

I disagree on blaming it on Kennedy's seat.   They could have attached it to the Budget Reconciliation process, which requires only a majority vote to clear the Senate.   I think a true NHS would have been worth the fall out.     Still, the ACA is crafted to break in certain ways over time that will essentially force an NHS act; but it'll be a slow, painful transition, instead of just getting it over with in a year or two...