I had a horrible experience here and would definitely never come back…read more
I came for an annual--my very first annual, back when I was 18 or so. I called beforehand to make sure that they took Aetna, and I was assured they did. But then when I got there, the receptionist told me they don't take Aetna, and that I hadn't talked to them when I called--I'd apparently contacted a call center in Florida.
I was annoyed at this point because I had NOT spoken to a call center in Florida, and I said, "That really doesn't make any sense because I dialed a 908 number and I specifically made sure I was talking to the Planned Parenthood in Washington", and the receptionist replied, "I don't know what you want from me, we're not taking your insurance."
I considered leaving, but I really needed a birth control script and I was told the visit would only be $30. So I decided to stay. It got worse, though. After I was taken into an examining room, the nurse asked me how much I weighed, and I said, "Don't you guys have a scale?" she said no. How can a doctor's office not have a scale? The nurse proceeded to try to talk me into paying for an STD test, even after I'd told her I'd just gotten one for free on campus a month ago.
Finally, the gynecologist they had on staff came in the room. She berated me for not coming in a week ago before my period had started, and told me the birth control pills wouldn't take effect for another month, "and that's your own fault for not coming in sooner." When she was doing my pelvic exam (my very first pelvic exam), I flinched and she said, "What's your problem? Haven't you ever put a tampon in before? It's the same thing." (It's not the same thing at all, just by the way) I have never in my life been spoken to so disrespectfully by a healthcare professional. It was really rattling, and I was stunned into silence.
When it finally came to prescribing the birth control, I told her I needed a generic so it would be covered by my insurance. Unbeknownst to me, she gave me one for a brand name. THEN the receptionist informed me they wouldn't be writing me a prescription, they'd be filling it there and it was going to be $50. Plus the exam would be $60, twice as much as they'd told me before. This seemed really off to me, and I wasn't sure what to do (I was a kid at the time), so I walked away for a moment and called my mom. She told me to make them write me a prescription, and not to leave until I had one.
They wouldn't do it, so I called my mom again and she told me to just wait and not pay for anything, and she'd be right down (we only live a few minutes away).
As soon as my mom (an actual adult) showed up, the receptionist's demeanor changed entirely. I don't think she was used to having adults there--Planned Parenthood is mostly frequented by younger people who can be pushed into getting their prescriptions filled on site, even though it's more expensive.
They wrote me the prescription, and my mom specifically said, "this is for a generic, right? I need it to be for a generic so insurance covers it." They assured her it was, and we left.
We stopped at Quick Chek on the way back to get the prescription filled, and the pharmacist informed us that this was NOT a generic, and we'd have to pay out of pocket. Both of us were about ready to explode, and we drove back to the clinic. My mom told the receptionist that she wouldn't be leaving until I was given a prescription for a generic, and the gyno came out and told my mom she'd speak to her in an examination room, since my mom was "upsetting the other patients in the waiting room" (she wasn't, and none of them were even paying attention to what was going on). They finally wrote me a prescription for a generic, and I called my mom's gyno that day to get on their waiting list.