A Scleroderma Patient with no Doctor: A Modern-Day Crisis
As some of you may already know, I have an autoimmune disease called Scleroderma . Scleroderma can be fatal, so it is imperative that I continue to be monitored by a rheumatologist, plus other specialists. Scleroderma can affect several different organs, so the list of specialists can add up after a while. I will require this monitoring for the duration of my life, however short or long that may be. So, imagine my surprise when I received a phone call in December informing me that my rheumatologist's office, Arthritis Northwest, is no longer accepting my insurance, Molina Medicaid. I was given the phone call with less than a month's notice that I needed to find a new provider. Now, in my town, there are only two rheumatologists... the one I was seeing and one through Providence, and they will not see me because I am a MultiCare patient, not a Providence patient. Cue my anxiety! Living with Scleroderma is scary enough without losing the onl...