Doctor Bill - 1979

Another comment from my 80s Notebook. This one from 11/3/79.

On August 3, 1979 I saw Dr. Wolin for a backache problem and a routine physical. This was the first since Navy separation. I paid $50 for the visit... by check the day of the visit. Right there in the office. 

Since then I've been routinely getting a statement from him about the bill. I think his billing service or computer was stuck on my receipt once a month. So now three months later the Statemen comes with a "Please" written on it. So it is a Bill!. That's what happens when you pay a medical bill on time... harassment. My only medical bill in a decade and they screw it up. I'm batting 1000. What would happen if I really got sick. Horror. 

I sent a copy of the cancelled check to prove I paid the doctor bill. 

11/3/09

Wow, I really find it hard to believe I went ten years without seeing a doctor. I think back on the days living in Germantown after getting out of the Navy and I really can't remember any medical issues or getting sick enough to see a doctor. Of course I always could have gone to the VA for medical treatment. I also think back that if the last time I had a physical was when I got out of the Navy that would have been late 1973 so that means it really was six years of not getting any medical service and not a decade as I wrote in 1979.

Also it's funny that I would blame the billing problem on using a computer. Little did I know back in 1979 how much my life would later evolve around computers.