Fury of the beast
I'm back from the dentist. I'm mad, suicidal, homicidal and sad. And my mouth hurts. And it's not that it's fixed, because it's not. And here is why, nad it's mostly written for my own sake, so I get some order in my chaos.
I don't have a job. I want to, but I don't. At least not in the common sense. Due to issues I don't want to get into here, the government don't want me to. But I have some places I help out when they need it, but that's not the issue.
As I can't work, I don't have an income, so the last five years I've been a tossingball between different parts of the system. We have the social wellfare office (SWO) from different counties, and the disableds office. For the first four years I was on something called Rehabilitating support, but last April I was moved to Disabled support. The whole time I've been relying on the SWO to cover the electricity bill and the rent for the appartment. Last month I decided to cut the support from SWO, as it became such a trouble for me (yes, they aren't nice).
So to the dentist-part. Two years ago I needed some teeth fixed. As I was on rehabilitation support, the SWO had to pay the bill. I used a private dentist, as the public dentist didn't have room for me. All was ok.
One year later, one of the fillings fell out due to a bad job. I called the SWO to ask about procedure. They asked me to go to the public dentist this time, and get an estimate for the total price. As the dentist saw the missing filling, she fixed it right away. The bill ended up at $90 for that one session. Now I had to wait for the estimate. This was in december 2004, and in february the following year, the estimate arrived. I now put in an application to the SWO, as I thought everything was fine. As the SWO demands bills _not_ to be payed before they application is sent, I put the bill away for the first appointment. One and a half month later, I got the answer, declined, due to the fact that I was now on Disabled support, and the Disableds Office was now in charge. I was ordered to go to my psychiatrist to get a written paper that states I was elligable for free dentist. This was now 14th of april when I got the signed paper, and imidiatly called the dentist. Because of the full lists, I didn't get an appointment untill 14th of June. With pains and migrains I waited and waited.
Yesterday was the day I was looking forward to. I didn't remember the time of the appointment, just that it was around 2pm, so I went there an hour earlier. Walked up to the desk, introduced myself, and ask when my appointment was. "It's not untill tomorrow" the clark said. What? They had rescheduled my appointment without telling me. Ok I thought, 24 hours ain't gonna hurt. So I asked if everything was allright, and yes, nothing to worry about.
This morning I woke at 7am, and felt something in my mouth. It felt like sand, so I spat it out, realising it was several pieces of a tooth. Another filling from the first dentist had fallen out a month ago, but as I had an appointment, I thought it could wait. Now I was missing half a tooth! Went back to sleep a couple of more hours, and woke up in time to go to the dentist again.
Was there half an hour early, and was both excited to get it fixed, and a bit nervous, as I was afraid they might have to pull the tooth out. I'm not afraid of the dentist, as you might see. But I do hate them.
They called me in, and I sat down. "You have an unpayed bill" the assistent told me. I showed her the written paper from the psychiatrist, and she took it with her to the dentist. After a few minutes the dentists walks in, and says there is a problem. As there is an unpayed bill, she can't do anything. I explained the case, that I thought the Disabilities office was gonna pay it all, and she agreed. But, because the paper I brought with me was signed the 14th of april, it didn't include the past, so I had to pay the bill myself. I even showed her the broken tooth, but she just shook her head, and sent me home. She didn't even say I'm sorry.
So now I'm home, with a broken tooth, a bill that's become over $200 for the first appointment, and feeling trashed. I'm afraid to eat, it might ruin the tooth more. I'm tired, I have a headache and I'm hungry. And broke, if I might add.
Tomorrow I'm going to the Disableds office and ask for help. I talked to my psychiatrist after the incident, and he was 100% sure that I didn't have to pay the bill myself, but I did have to wait. Byrocracy you know. So hopefully, I get them to pay tomorrow. Then it's 3 days to wait for the bill to go through. Then up to 14 days to get a new appointment at the dentist.
My question is: WTF didn't the dentist send me a letter, or tell me on the phone when I scheduled the appointment? I had a look at the computerscreen today, and it clearly says that there are unpayed bills. All this could have been avoided if they just told me. One thins is for sure, you are supposed to know all the rules and laws in your country.
And as the troubles began when I moved in with her, it is plausible. At least I like to think so.