The only thing I think this might do for me is that hopefully one day when I'm standing in front of St. Peter and he's got this giant list of all the bad crap I've done in my life I can say "yeah, but you gotta give me some credit for that one thing."
So here it goes. You know when you're leaving Home Depot and it's like 97 degrees outside and you go to put away your cart and it becomes a pain? There's one of those big flat carts half-in and half-out and you have to move that, then you put yours up, and you're sweating like a pig, and you turn to go back to your car and leave, and there it is...
... a cart, on the opposite side of the lane, right there on the yellow line, ruining two parking spots.
Some self-centered @#$@%^ decided that they were more important than anybody else who might want to park there, and they thought they were too good to put their cart up like the rest of us do.
So here's the question: It is on the other side of the lane. It is hot. It isn't your responsibility. You put your cart up and had to jimmy that flat cart to do it. So you take about two steps to your car, but it doesn't matter. You keep hearing all the crap your dad and grandpa told you when you were a kid about doing the right thing, and you sigh... and you have to make a decision.
The decision is whether or not you're a "do the right thing guy", or a "'screw it, they pay people to do that guy".
Me personally, inside I bitch about it a little, but I go get the cart. Somebody is probably watching anyway. I don't want to be a "screw it" guy.
So that brings us to you. It has taken me a solid two weeks to work myself into this decision. It has really been nagging me, because it's going to be good for some of you, and will probably wreck our business. I'm not sure it's my responsibility to do this, but it has nagged me and I know it's the right thing to do. God help me.
There's a place in one of our towns that does what we do, and the IVs are free if you have Medicare.
I don't know if they're any good. I don't know if they have big puffy recliners. I don't know if they mix all their bags in-house and custom like we do, or if they get them shipped from some generic "you too can sell IVs" company. I don't know if they have big TVs, great nurses, snacks and drinks, or really anything about them other than that one of our (formerly, obviously) regular patients told me that they now go there because if you have Medicare, it will pay for your IVs. I don't know how they do that, considering this is an elective deal, or what they're saying on the bill, or even if it's legal, but that ain't really your problem. All that matters to you is that (assuming you've met your deductible and have a supplement) it's free.
The place is called Integrative Health, in Tyler. You're on your own after that. There's a fine line between being a good guy and being a patsy, so I'm not gonna link them or give you a phone number or anything. ;-)
A pretty good percentage of our patients have Medicare, so this is a little nauseating to be telling you, but if they're any good, if they have the same amenities, if you have Medicare, and the money makes a difference to you, you should probably check them out. Free is always nice. Hopefully for our sake the place smells like a doctor's office, has a crowded generic waiting room, they don't have big TVs and recliners, and they are just mediocre at their jobs, but either way, you owe it to yourself to consider them if you have Medicare. I just kept thinking of my Grandma and how sick I'd have been if I found out she'd been paying out of pocket for something for which Medicare would've paid. She wouldn't have cared about the recliners or the TV, she would've wanted to save the money. So there you go. I put the cart up and now I can sleep better.
There may be places like it in Shreveport and Sunnyvale too. I can't bring myself to do that research, but if you're on Medicare and you're in one of those towns you probably should. If you want to keep coming to us, we'd LOVE to have you. We think we do a great job and we hope we're better than those folks. We aren't trying to run anybody off for sure, we just want you to know that if you're on a fixed income and have Medicare, they're an option.
Now I'm going to go puke, and pray that I haven't just pissed 5 years of hard work down the drain...
and their phone number is (903) 595-8077.
