It's been a long weekend

As I drove up to my house on Thursday, my check engine light went on. Great. Just when I'm trying to get all my shit together, I have to now get my car fixed. Fortunately I was able to find a mechanic and was able to drop the car off this morning. Friday rolls around, I go to work - nothing out of the ordinary there. Leave to go home and the UW finally calls. Let me just say, the healthcare system in this country is awful. The woman that I talked to was somewhat pleasant, but it was obvious that I was her last call and she just wanted to get home. She called while I was driving home. She informed me that I was not in their system and that my therapist had not faxed over a referral. Bullshit. I know she did. Now, it could be that the fax never made it thru. That's entirely possible. It's also possible that someone at their offices misplaced it. So I asked why was I not informed that the fax never came thru. She told me that when we call our names and phone numbers are written on scrap paper and once we are called back, that paper is thrown out. I find that to be completely and totally unacceptable. This is an issue of health. It's not like they are calling me back because I didn't receive part of my Amazon.com order. When I asked her why there wasn't a better system in place for calling people back, she didn't say anything and she changed the subject. Since I've called 3 times, she's going to put me in their system (even though she did not believe me when I said I've called three times and one time was to talk to the patient relations person). So she starts to ask me all these insurance questions. All this information is at my house. And I tell her that. Then she asks if I'm driving. Why yes, yes I am. I'm heading home from work. Then she informs me that she can not help me until I stop driving. I'm on a friggin highway. Where do you suggest I stop? It's also rush hour. I completely understand not being able to take any information from me while I am driving as it's dangerous. But we continue to talk about why there is this massive hole in their call back system and what I need to do to get in to see a doctor for the next 30 minutes! And that's safe? By the time we come to the end of the conversation, it comes out that basically what they do is, I'll meet with a doctor, then the doctor will write a recommendation for medication, if they feel it's necessary and after that I have to take it to my general practitioner. Well that's great. But it takes about 3 weeks for me to get in to see her. And from what I understand, she can prescribe the medication for me and I don't have to go thru all of this. And when I tell this woman that, she says that my general practitioner can not prescribe medication for my depression. Well you might want to tell my insurance company and the several other doctors and therapists I've talked to. So... UW you are by far the worst organization I have ever dealt with. At this point I plan to deal with my depression without medication. It will be far less painful than dealing with you.