Quote:
Originally Posted by JaneB
Check to see if they have sliding scale clinics in your area. A friend of mine goes to one of the clinics here in Phoenix. They ask what you make a month and then they determine what you pay. There is also a dental school here that takes patients twice a month. They are students in training, but they have dentists there watching over them. I heard it is cheap as hell for the patient and it helps the students. I am sure if you looked around you would find similar places near you.
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The dermatologist I was going to was giving me a break and I would tell them up front how much I could afford and they would do what they could.
One time I had a small spot to remove on my face. It was located just under my eye socket and above the cheek. I talked with the doctor about my situation and he said he would remove it and a plastic surgeon would close it up for a total of $400.
So the first doctor scrapes it out and even though the cancer spot was tiny by the time he had it all dug out I had a hole in my face about the size of a nickel and deep enough for the nickel to fit flush inside it. I'm talking about something that looked like a tiny, clear pimple. I was actually shocked when I looked in the mirror.
So that doctor leaves the room and the plastic surgeon comes in and doesn't want to do the stitching. He asked me what I did for a living and I told him I was a photographer. He says " so you're behind the camera and not in front of it so it's not really going to matter if you have a big circular scar on your face. I was shocked.
He sees the look on my face after telling me that and then said he'd stitch it up. It took him about a minute and a half and I don't know how he did it but it completely closed up the hole and it healed perfectly. There is no way anyone can tell that I had that hole there.
That situation has kind of turned me off of going out and haggling for my health care
Anyways, thanks to everyone that offered suggestions and I now feel that I at least have a few options.