Last time I checked this country’s first language is English. Apparently the Hillsboro, Oregon health and human services office is not in the U.S. It should not be more difficult for me, a white, English as a first language, born in the U.S. citizen to get state assistance. I am not racist nor do I have anything against immigrants getting assistance. It just frustrates and confuses me that it is easier for immigrants to get assistance then it is for people born here.
From the first time Chris (my fiance, and father of our soon to be born son) and I went into our local health and human services office to apply for medical assistance we noticed that if ether of us could read and or speak Spanish things would have been alot easier. We had to wait 1/2 hour+ to speak to someone, but if we could read Spanish we would have seen the sign as soon as we walked in pointing us to the applications for Oregon Heath Plan. Hence saving us time and effort. When Chris and I returned to turn in the application we again had to wait a 1/2 an hour+ to talk to someone, she did not have English as a first language, so there were communication difficulties. We turned in the application along with copies of our ids, social security cards and a proof of pregnancy given to us by a midwife in Washington before we moved to Oregon. I feel the need to mention that I was “showing” by now, not alot but significantly enough that anyone could tell by looking at me that I was in fact pregnant. We were then told that that should be sufficient information and to expect something in the mail in the next 2-3 weeks. We were not contacted by the state ether by phone or by mail. I received a bill about two weeks later from the clinic where I went for my ultrasound with a note stating that I was denied by O.H.P. This was the first Chris and I had heard anything about our application.
After a little over an hour of trying to call someone who could tell me what happened, calling the local O.H.P. office waiting through their automated system(press 1 for Spanish, press 2 for English etc.) being told I needed to call a different number. I finally was told that they did send us notification of a need for more information and when we did not respond we were denied. Well they thought they sent us letters when in fact someone had entered 19th instead of 1st as our address, and because our case was closed they could not correct the error. We needed to go into our local office and reapply and apply for an appeal. We went to our local office to reapply, apply for an appeal and correct the error. We were then told that they could not correct the error, that we were to call the main heath and human services office in Salem and they could correct our address in their system. I was beginning to feel like I was running around in circles.
A few days after we found out we were denied by O.H.P. we went to what (unbeknownst to Cris and I) would be our last visit to my (then) doctor. Dr. A. told us that she would now be seeing me every 2 weeks instead of every 4 weeks as we had been the previous visits. Chris and I went to San Jose to visit his parents and for the baby shower Ardee (Chris’ mom) was throwing me. Chris and I rode the train down to San Jose on Thursday and Ardee and Jerry drove us back up (car packed with baby shower gifts) on the following Tuesday. We returned home to find a letter from my doctors office:
“I find it necessary to inform you that I am withdrawing from further professional care. If you so desire I shall be available to provide you with care relating to your current condition for a reasonable time after you have received this letter , but in no event for more than 30 days from the date of this letter. This should give you ample time to select another physician of your choice. With your approval, I will make available to your new physician your case history and information regarding the treatment you have received under my care.”
We had arrived home after business hours, ao I called the next morning and attempted to find out why my doctor had “withdrawn from further professional care” because as you may have noticed the letter does not say. I was unable to find out definitively from the receptionist why my doctor had basically canceled us with little to no warning, and Dr. A. was unavailable. However from what I did gather I was canceled due to delay of payment. Yet again because someone at heath and human services doesn’t know the difference between 1st and 19th I am without a doctor. I did have an appointment with Dr. A for that Friday, however even though it clearly states in the letter that I would still be able to receive care for up to 30 days my appointment was canceled.
When our 2nd application and appeal arrived in Salem we were contacted by a woman named Sonnie. Sonnie seamed to be helpful at first, and she was helpful in “getting the ball rolling”. Sonnie corrected our address in the system and then sent us a list of information that we needed to send to her. Some of which we thought we would be unable to get because of Chris’s line of work (web design). However we were told by a very helpful woman on our next visit to the heath and human services office that we did in fact have sufficient information, that in her opinion Sonnie was “asking for the moon”. She also told us that we qualified for food stamps. We still have to wait a few weeks for the Salem office to look over our case again and hopefully approve us. However it looks like I will have medical assistance at least by the time baby Alexandr is born, with approx a month and a half left until my due date that should be enough time for the state to decide that a pregnant woman deserves a doctor.
