I'm finding out something very, very interesting about medical assistance.

As I was placing calls today, trying to schedule a medical appointment to respond to the recent allegations that were lodged against us, I found myself getting turned down by doctor after doctor.

The reason? "We don't take Medicaid".

Now, I realize it's a hassle. And I realize it's not the preferred form of payment for many of them. But somewhere in there, you'd think that whole Hippocratic Oath thing would come into play. It shouldn't be necessary for us to drive 70 miles in a car that I'm not entirely sure should make that trip in order to find a doctor. We DO have a couple of options left to call, but it seems odd that something like medical assistance would be so entirely useless in so many areas.

And the sad thing is, it probably brings added cost. Because emergency rooms can't turn away patients, I would be willing to put a couple of paychecks up on the likelihood that many families on Medicaid have unnecessarily tied up ER facilities out of desperation simply because they could not see a doctor.

Ah, well, if worst comes to worst I always have one more string to pull. I can call up the social worker and explain to her the situation...if they want us to get into a doctor, it would be reasonable for them to help. If the last option we have doesn't work, I think that's the way we'll go.