AngelM
Senior Member
- Messages
- 150
- Location
- Oklahoma City
As soon as I saw the post on this forum about Dr. Shikhman in San Diego, I called his office to get on the waiting list. BUT because I am not a resident of California, I was refused an appointment.
I can’t afford to travel the world seeking an audience with a CFS doctor, but because I have a daughter living in San Diego (Pacific Beach), I’ve always considered it a viable option for a CFS specialist. I can visit as often as I like, stay as long as necessary, and the trip is an easy one. Non-stop flight and only a few minutes from the SD airport to my daughter’s house.
So you can imagine my disappointment (and confusion) when I was refused. I don’t know how good a doctor Dr. Shikman is. Like any professional, there is no way I can know that in advance. But he accepts both my primary and secondary insurance—my health insurance pays the same whether I live in Oklahoma or Tinbuktu—so I thought Dr. Shikman seemed worth exploring. Though I don’t personally reside in San Diego, my daughter and her husband have a permanent address there, own their own home, and have lived in SD for more than 15 years. So I am feeling discriminated against—like I’m a homeless person being refused permission to walk into a public building until I can show proof of state residency.
No matter how many times I explained my situation to the receptionist, she was adamant that unless I was a California resident (and could prove it), I could not make an appointment. Maybe there is a logical reason for this rule that I am unfamiliar with. But, at the moment, I am upset and disappointed at getting such a negative response over a dimple phone call.
I’ve been knocked down by one obstacle after another in my journey to find CFS treatment, but have never run across this particular problem before.
Is ME/CFS a rich man’s disease? I certainly can’t afford the hefty private-pay fees most ME/CFS specialists now ask. And a $550 to $1200 deposit just for the privilege of making an appointment a year in advance? There is something fundamentally wrong with that. I can fully understand paying for an appointment if I am a “no-show”—that is only fair. But these are physicians, not Gods.
Since many CFS specialists recommended by OMF and related foundations both reside and conduct their research within the state of California, am I SOL? And if ME/CFS is a rich man’s disease, I think that point needs to be addressed honestly and openly, not skirted around and ignored. Just sign me “Beyond Frustrated and Close to Fed Up With what the ME/CFS System has Become.”
I can’t afford to travel the world seeking an audience with a CFS doctor, but because I have a daughter living in San Diego (Pacific Beach), I’ve always considered it a viable option for a CFS specialist. I can visit as often as I like, stay as long as necessary, and the trip is an easy one. Non-stop flight and only a few minutes from the SD airport to my daughter’s house.
So you can imagine my disappointment (and confusion) when I was refused. I don’t know how good a doctor Dr. Shikman is. Like any professional, there is no way I can know that in advance. But he accepts both my primary and secondary insurance—my health insurance pays the same whether I live in Oklahoma or Tinbuktu—so I thought Dr. Shikman seemed worth exploring. Though I don’t personally reside in San Diego, my daughter and her husband have a permanent address there, own their own home, and have lived in SD for more than 15 years. So I am feeling discriminated against—like I’m a homeless person being refused permission to walk into a public building until I can show proof of state residency.
No matter how many times I explained my situation to the receptionist, she was adamant that unless I was a California resident (and could prove it), I could not make an appointment. Maybe there is a logical reason for this rule that I am unfamiliar with. But, at the moment, I am upset and disappointed at getting such a negative response over a dimple phone call.
I’ve been knocked down by one obstacle after another in my journey to find CFS treatment, but have never run across this particular problem before.
Is ME/CFS a rich man’s disease? I certainly can’t afford the hefty private-pay fees most ME/CFS specialists now ask. And a $550 to $1200 deposit just for the privilege of making an appointment a year in advance? There is something fundamentally wrong with that. I can fully understand paying for an appointment if I am a “no-show”—that is only fair. But these are physicians, not Gods.
Since many CFS specialists recommended by OMF and related foundations both reside and conduct their research within the state of California, am I SOL? And if ME/CFS is a rich man’s disease, I think that point needs to be addressed honestly and openly, not skirted around and ignored. Just sign me “Beyond Frustrated and Close to Fed Up With what the ME/CFS System has Become.”