Scan I am, scam I am - why I need a CT scan but may not be able to have one

I've been through a lot these past few weeks. I gave notice on my reporting job because I had plans to go to England to pursue my M.A. Life was ducky. Then I found out that I had an irregular chest xray.

The doctor wanted me to have one CT scan with contrast, and one without. I spent so many hours trying to sift through red tape with my health insurance company, the doctor's office, etc. only to, today, realize I can't afford the CT scan. And all of this after the doctor had to accept the insurance company's limitation to only one scan for me, with contrast.

I would need to pay 10% coinsurance on the scan, plus what's left of my portion of the deductible. So over a grand. Tomorrow. Or maybe they'd bill me and I would not be able to afford rent or food or my ticket to England. So I've decided to skip it*. But I want to document all of this in case I am really very sick, and die in a few months.

I've had blood coming out of my system for parts of the past year. I won't gross you out, but initially doctors said it was related to sinuses. That seemed odd to me. But OK, Flonase it is. But the blood didn't go away.

I started a new job, more congestion, more blood. I had to give up Husky Health, my free Connecticut-based health insurance. I remember my supervisor urging me to go to the hospital right away and get checked. I finallly did go, but had to spend an hour sorting out my Husky Health details at the hospital first. It was a drag, but I was glad I went. The kind doctor there urged me to follow up with a doctor in DC. However, I knew that would have to wait until I had my new health insurance, United Healthcare.

By August 1, I thought my luck had turned. Yet, the high cost of the deductible kind of ran counter to my fantasy insurance. When I gave notice at my job, I had no idea I would need a CT scan. But the wheels were already set in motion. It was only today I realized how much I would have to pay and when, when the scheduler called me back from the hospital. Mom was livid: "It's your health--how could you have not known what it would cost until now?' Well, forgive me, but I was busy doing my job and had no recent frame of reference for insurance companies whose only aim is to make a buck.

I want to write this so, in case I have tuberculosis or lung cancer -- the doctor didn't see a mass, so said she was confident I don't have cancer, but hey a shadow is a shadow -- someone will hold the American system of "medicine" and insurance accountable. Maybe my life doesn't matter to the health insurer, or America, but it matters to my mother.

*UPDATE: 9-13-17: Scan was rescheduled but indeed, I have a $1500 deductible on my health insurance plan, having started my job later in the year. I may very likely not be able to get my necessary scan, which has been rescheduled for the 20th. My friend Leonard told me yesterday about how all these sorts of hassles cost his mother an earlier death to lung cancer than she would have otherwise had. On the bright side: I also, yesterday, got a call from the National Heatlh Service in England. I will be covered "as if I were a UK resident". So here's to my not having cancer, and forging a new life on the other side of the pond, a healthier life.