I had to go to the ophthalmologist today for glaucoma tests (my gigantic optic nerves make me a permanent suspect), and since I'm still fighting the concussion, Mr. escapee drove me and went in with me.
The technician came in and did the routine things - pressure test, put in the dilating drops, and sat me down in the hallway until the lady with the optic-nerve-picture-taking machine was free. And we talked a little.
My husband mentioned my concussion, and we found out that she's from Cape May, and had waitressed at the restaurant where I fell. I said one of their waitresses told us she was a nurse, and that waitressing was her second job.
"I have a second job", the technician said. I said it was outrageous, that this is important work and fair payment and everything I usually say, including that I had voted for the man I thought would change all this. But she had the reasons why.
First, she's an independent contractor. She gets paid by the procedure. I'm an independent contractor; I get paid by the piece of work I complete, but I don't work on human eyes. Can you imagine?
And, she said, the insurance companies have all cut back their payments because of the approaching health care reform. (And every time she said that, she made 'quotes' marks in the air with her fingers.) Say what she'd just done with me was billed at $135; she used to get $125, but they've cut it back to $85.00. She pays $27 every two weeks for health care; her employer pays $8,000 for herself and her two kids, but when she has to pay taxes on that $8,000 as income, she'll actually be below the poverty level. "I'll go on welfare" she told us.
"Maybe they cut back their payments because they want to make more money?" I suggested. Definitive shake of the head. "No, it's Obama's plan. They just want to get more of my money. Either the government or the insurance companies. What am I supposed to do?"
"Use the government's plan?" Mr. escapee said.
"I've seen government medicine," she said. "It's why I work here."
I wish I'd asked how it would affect the practice's patients, or her children, or how she gets paid. I wish I'd had more to say. But they called me for my pictures, and I went off, and she hustled off to make her next $85.00.