MANNERS PLEASE

People have been commenting that I haven't been posting as regularly. In a way take that as good news because it means that nothing is going very wrong on the health front. Nothing is going very right either, but you know what I mean.

Today I had to deal with one of the issues that people with health challenges often have to deal with - paperwork. Ashton has been having treatment at the same hospital with the same medical team for two years. We choose for her to be treated as a private patient in a government hospital, not because it changes her treatment but because its our way of paying back. The government hospital get a financial kickback if you sign in as a private patient.

For two years there has been no problem. Then suddenly a paperwork war broke out regarding bills from hospital treatment in February this year. It has escalated and escalated in that time, with the company dealing with hospital accounts, Medicare, our private health insurer and ourselves all becoming involved. The company said we hadn't paid the bill. We said we had. You can just imagine the ensuing chaos and the embarrassment of letters outlining avenues they will be following if these bills are not paid yesterday.

What gets me is how easily people are ready to blame someone else. Accounts blamed us. Medicare blamed accounts. Private health blamed accounts and Medicare. And I felt like ripping my hair out. My daughter and I are meticulous in paying accounts. Why would this suddenly have changed?

The other thing that gets me is how rude people can be on the telephone. I can not understand what people gain from a surly tone over the phone and a manner bordering on rudeness. I just wish some of them would walk a day in my shoes and see how they would cope, dealing with rude people on top of everything else I have to cope with. I wish they could see how they are finally the straw that breaks the camel's back.

The mystery today was finally solved. It was a human error made on accounts behalf. Rather than apologising, the woman whose tone has made me cry said that she was curious which of her colleagues was responsible. She sounded nasty. I hope she finds it was herself and that it brings her down a peg or two.

There is never any call for treating people without the basics of decency. Those who do so while hiding behind a computer or a telephone are the worst of the lot.

Till next time...xxx