Originally posted by sh76
I'm not sure if you meant my uncle being a "personal connection." But that had nothing to do with it. My GP could have given me the exact same prescription (for another small co-pay, of course). It's now 1:30 PM. I guarantee you I could see my GP this afternoon if I wanted to.
I think the thing is that the tests you're asking for are sort of routine, relatively cheap tests. If you ask for something a little more costly like an ultrasound or a CT scan you'll run into a little more resistance. Or at least, that's been my experience. My wife has had a lot of trouble getting these sorts of tests approved from her insurance company. She's often gotten these rejected until she muscles her doctors or specialists into fighting for her with the insurance companies. In more than one case, the doctors have told her straight out "You need XYZ, but the insurance companies won't cover it with your policy".
I've also noticed that, for whatever reason, the doctors need confirmation that pain is one of her symptoms before the insurance company will grant it. And they routinely reject anything until the doctors start talking about pain an suffering. Which is retarded, to me. If you've got a disease, it needs to be treated whether or not you're suffering, before you do begin to suffer. What happened to treating diseases early? Luckily, in my wife's cases pain was included anyway.
I guess it does come down to anecdotal experience, but my own anecdotal experiences haven't painted as rosy a picture.