Medi-Cal...that leech which continues to suck the life from my nerves...

I hate Medi-Cal.

It's not just that they treat you as if you're illiterate (even though at this point...nevermind--suffice to say, I'm not illiterate).

It's not just that they have easily the most inefficently run office in the world (and I have lived in a country that comes close--the immigration offices of the Philippines must have taken their cue from America's poorly run government aid systems).

Its not even (though its almost) the fact that its impossible to be well-informed and on a good basis with your "worker"--because you have to call within the window of two hours in the morning to get a hold of them--and most of the time, you won't even then, and you can't simply walk in and try and sort things out because you can't have an appointment without calling first (which, as I already mentioned, DOESN'T work) so you end up sitting in their overcrowded waiting rooms for hours till someone walks out to tell you that they sent the wrong paper work because the "computer sends all sorts of things."

No--even taken all together, this still doesn't make this the worst office in the world. For that, they have to endanger my family. But Chris, you'll say, surely an institute that is in place to help familes without means provide insurance for their babies so they can get much needed medical attention wouldn't endanger those same babies through negligence...or at least, that's what I said to myself.

But, no. You (and unfortunately I) would be wrong.

Medi-Cal is the devil. They are the devil for this reason: Aiden is not getting the medical attention he needs to ensure that he grows strong and healthy, all because of the inexcusably poor quality of service that they offer. After sending them the forms that they requested at least half a dozen times (though a better estimate might put it at something like 8-10) we are still receiving paperwork from them saying they want the same forms or they will discontinue our insurance. And inspite of involving ourselves in the meaningless task of trying to contact them and clear things up over the phone (and even asking them to call us with notes on the paperwork we send them) we still have made zero progress with these people. At one point, out of extreme frustration, I decided to talk to this imbicle myself--and found out she wanted forms that don't exist. I was at a loss...but we went to Biola and they helped us out by drafting the information in a form for us. I thought that we had finally beaten the system--this was going to be our triumphal moment--and as a celebration we could finally give Aiden his second round of innoculations. Apparantly I am a fool to hope. No sooner did they receive that then they started asking for other paper work--which had already sent--and then they changed our "worker" without any notice--and the new idiot has no idea what's going on either.

However...after a lot of paperwork and calls and what not...we got reinstated and scheduled an appointment (cause we can pay for it again). So now we have a doctor's appointment today. Hopefully they won't call children services because of the long time between appointments. Oh, and we received a notice on Monday that if they don't get X forms by Friday, we'll be discontinued again. Words do not exist for my feelings at present.

I am just at a loss. At this point, I don't care about my time--apparently that's something the government offices have, do and will waste. But this is the health of my son we're talking about here. That's what they're supposed to be there for. And I am getting pretty tired of having them yank us around with him in the middle.

This only re-enforces my belief that the private sector would be a better place for things like this. People in a government job like Medi-Cal don't have to care or worry about their preformance--because who am I, the broke parent, going to talk to? What real power do I have?

The question--do I have any better ideas? Well yes, I do actually. Turn the money that funds Medi-Cal to the private sector. Offer insentives to private insurance companies and make the various options available to the public. The private companies would only get paid if they retained the patronage of people like me (i.e. people who need help for their children's sake). Free market baby. It works everywhere else--are you telling me it wouldn't work in this area? There would be more efficent healthcare, because when there's a chance for profit based on quality, quality instantly begins to show itself. This seems obvious to me...but hey--I'm just a broke, apparantly illiterate, and now neglectful parent. What do I know?

I need a job. A real job that gives coverage to my family. I am going to be applying for teaching positions in Christian schools in Whittier and Pasadena. Pray, please.

I hate Medi-Cal.