I Hate Insurance Companies...and Doctors...and Basically Everyone who Disagrees with Me

So, I have Allergies. I have had seasonal allergies my entire life and just deal with them. I take my medications in the fall and spring and I am a-ok. Things got a little tricky when I was twenty and all of a sudden, totally out of left field, I developed an allergy to raw apples (they are fine when cooked, but raw if off limits). I know it's odd. It is a pretty bad allergy honestly. So bad that I cannot even cut apples without my hands breaking out in hives. At the same time that this happened I also became allergic to bing cherries and to pears. Not nearly as upsetting of as loss as my beloved apples, but still, a loss.

So, this is all something that has been going on for nearly ten years and isn't really something worth talking about...except recently I have noticed that I seem to be having MORE allergic reactions than normal. Like...when I walked into my sisters house and she was baking an apple pie. And I had a reaction to the raw apples IN THE AIR. Right. Seems worrisome. I mean, I can avoid apples when it is eating and touching, but how can I avoid EVER being in the presence of someone eating an apple?? Tricky.

Then I went to Chicago and got a pumpkin spice latte made with soy milk. And I had an allergic reaction. Not a serious one, but it was clear I was having an issue. I then had some pumpkin pie made with soy milk and again had a reaction. So...I decide it is high time I see an ENT about this little allergy problem. I wish I could say I was going to make sure I didn't have some crazy reaction and die, but really it was the pumpkin. I love pumpkin....and the holidays are coming...and...and... I just want to be told it was the soy. I can do this no diary thing during the holidays, but I CANNOT give up pumpkin.

This post is getting much longer than I expected...anyway, I went to the doctor. He was all like, "Oh MY! You need allergy testing!!!!" And I was like, "yeah, that's why I am here... I want food testing" and he is all like, "okay...but I want you to get tested for EVERYTHING!! Everything under the sun! If we have it, we are TESTING!!" (I am paraphrasing here) and I am all like, "GO FOR IT! Better safe than sorry!"

So...long story short, I get a call from the office and they have called my insurance and my insurance will only cover 60 allergy tests. Apparently the doctor had ordered 144. And each additional test is $8. So...that is a grand total of $672. SIX HUNDRED AND SEVENTY TWO DOLLARS. For tests that my doctor ordered! Because I am ALLERGIC. And I NEEEEEEED them.

So I call the insurance. They confirm this 60 test max. They then tell me that the doctor can write a letter saying that I NEEEEEEED the tests and they might be covered. I think all is right with the world. This sounds easy! The doc can fix everything with his magic letter!! So I call and ask. And...he says No. NO. Because I came to him asking for testing. WHAT?? How else do you get to the doctor besides saying, "GUESS WHAT??? I am ALLERGIC!" So...then I ask for the food testing only. That is 64 allergens. I can swing the $32. And the Evil Allergy doc says NO. He says I have to have the basic inhalant stuff first. The other 80 test. THEN I can be tested for the foods. So...so...I am at a loss. I want the food testing, but we definitely don't have the $672 for the whole sha-bam. I just want to know what I need to keep away from. I want to know how severe the apple situation is. I want to know if I need a damn eppi pen. That is all.

So, in sum of this long angry post. I want food allergy testing and they wont give it to me unless I come up with nearly seven hundred dollars. I hate insurance companies and doctors and all those people that don't just listen to me. The end.