I may have mentioned something about my experience with the ACCESS program for San Joaquin County, a little mental health program for people who do not have insurance located on California Street in Stockton, which uses 6 hour waits, threatening contracts, unqualified officials and outright racketeering to prevent anyone in San Joaquin County from receiving mental health care. Since there is no way to qualify for state health care when under the age of 65, and there is no federal health care at all, only the counties can provide health care. So that means when I'm in Alameda county the people there cannot help me at all, even though they are very nice, because I am constrained to the San Joaquin County system. A system that pretty much involves a tiny office in Stockton, that everyone in the county has to go to, and they don't let you make appointments.
I have been looking for alternative solutions, obviously, but it's pretty amazing what a monopoly this unethical charity has on all the poor of San Joaquin. It's a pretty big county, so you'd think there are at least some alternative routes. I ran into yet another dead end today, and wasted my time skipping school to follow this wild goose, so in the same schoolless atmosphere, I am going to spend some time here talking about how my day went.
Now, this horror I described above is only for people who are mentally ill, such as yours truly, but the system for people who are physically ill is no cakewalk either. The county has one (1) hospital, which is a huge hospital so they have plenty of room for people who don't have insurance, right? Wrong. There is one office in the entire hospital, yes that means one room, for people who qualify for the private hospital's medical program: MAP. This office will not (as I was told) take appointments, so you'd better be there at least 15 minutes before it opens at 7am, since there's already a line forming. Thankfully the bus leaving at 6am in my town arrives at the hospital at 6:22am so I have plenty of time to wait, right?
Well, first let me describe the waiting atmosphere. There are some grubby red brick buildings behind the "new" hospital with its 4 story high stucco and glass architecture. In these buildings there is a lovely waiting room, with chairs and heating. It's even open for people to wait there before 7am, though the other doors are locked. To prevent people from receiving health care though, MAP does not allow you to use this waiting room. They require that you form a queue outside the hospital, at 6:30am, in 10 degree weather. Those who attempt to wait inside are told by the receptionist that the people waiting outside get to go first in line, about 7 of them. The reason for this is to motivate you to wait out in the cold for no reason.
So I didn't know this, so I waited inside. I was miffed at having to get shoved behind all the other people, but I still made it to the desk in a half hour or so. I don't understand Spanish, but it seems like everyone in front of me had to tell their life story to the lady at the counter, and she was very good at turning away person, after person. Only about half the people in line didn't get the cold shoulder, and I wasn't one of them.
When I went to the receptionist, showed my MAP card and my photographic identification, I asked to see a doctor. She wanted to know why I needed to see a doctor. I told her I was looking for a referral. She said no, what is your affliction? I asked what she meant, and she said this clinic is only for acute medical problems, so I had to say what part of my body was broken before I could see a doctor. I told her eventually, with the whole queue there to hear, her not even a nurse much less a candid physician, that I had some mental issues that I needed a referral to get treatment for. "Oh, you can't do that here," were her words. She repeated that no doctor here can give referrals and it's only for people who can somehow diagnose their own medical problems.
I asked if I could get a consultation. She said I needed an appointment to get a physical.
...
I asked her if that appointment was outside of the MAP program (and therefore US$150 out of my pocket just for the appointment) but she said no, and gave me a phone number to make the appointment. "It's an awfully long wait," she added, "So you should call every day and see if there was a cancellation."
Great bitch, I'm going to sit at home skipping school calling her office every day to see if I can run to the bus and charge on over there to get a freaking checkup. Yeah, really. So she gave me the number, and I'm about ready to just say skip it. One guy with a swollen jaw ahead of me she cheerfully said, "Oh you have get an appointment to sign up for the MAP program before a doctor can sign your form allowing you to go see a dentist, the appointment takes a month usually."
She was kind enough however, to tell me that they handle their mental health stuff in this place on California Street in Stockton, and that nobody in this hospital could help me at all.
If I can work up the sheer will, I may try that place on California Street again. I'll try to be prepared this time, so they can't charge me $300 for services not rendered (like they did last time). If I have a similar experience, it will be a good conclusion to a horrific exposee I can start crafting about the San Joaquin County medical assistance system, and send to the various newspaper's opinion pages.
Any other suggestions would be welcome; I really wish there was a better way to fix myself and stop being unable to work for any employer, beyond petty vengeful stuff like lambasting the system in an attempt to motivate them to change it. It's one of the worst crimes in the world to misuse the taxes people have trusted you with, to steal the wealth of the very people of the land and give them guilt and blame in exchange. That sort of thing must be stopped.
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