Charlie wrote on Sep 21^st, 2010 at 3:18pm:


man you got that shit right.

in response to marcs original post this is another reason why i dont go the doc for CH. theres really no point in it once you know you dont have a tumor or something else. welders o2 is affordable and i dont have to beg and plead to get it and as we all know i dont put any stock in all those fancy expencive drugs many of us take.

as far as obamacare i disagree with it. the past year i had my insurance paid for. next year it goes up to $75 a week. they cut out our pension plan (non union) so theres really no incentive for me to hang out to put up with being micro managed by some young college educated bean counters.

one thing i will say about obama is that more freight is moving around now than there was 2 years ago and a few trucking companies that were on the verge of bankruptcy are now thriving again.

Ah, free care, sounds wonderful until you actually have to deal with the system that provides it.

This was written by my daughter.  She is now getting that free care that some people thinks will be so wonderful (don't get me wrong, she's had some wonderful doctors, but there is a lot of incompetency in the *free* care system).  Plus, one doesn't realize the *wait* that you will probably have with the free system (three hours for her on this last visit and I have seen much longer waits in a general clinic).

The (in)Competence of Doctors

     I’ve spent quite a bit of time in hospitals and doctors’ offices.  I have health problems and have had nine surgeries, so it isn’t really much of a surprise that so much has been spent in these places.  Over the years, so many different doctors have seen me that I’ve lost count.  Some of them are good, some of them are downright horrible, and some are just there.
     I recently had major surgery, a laparotomy, in which my remaining ovary was removed, as was my appendix; my intestines were also unstuck and untwisted from the large amount of scar tissue that was in my lower abdomen.  My doctors and my nurses were wonderful, even the poor medical students that had to face the wrath of an angsty girl with a nasogastric tube down her throat.
     As with any major surgery, I’ve had multiple post-operative visits with my doctors so that they can check up on me and make sure that my medication is working properly.  I recently had my third post-op visit with the ob-gyn clinic at my hospital.  Unfortunately, I saw neither my specialist nor the doctor that I usually see.  Instead I saw a male student who deemed it necessary to tell me that I should wear dresses because it would be better than pants rubbing on my incision.  I have no problem with this, but when I asked if I looked like I wore dresses, I got the reply, “Well, you ARE a girl.”  Since when did it become acceptable for a doctor to be so idiotic?
     It gets worse, however.  Another doctor came in after he did to check on me.  I ended up asking her to write a letter to the company that produces my HRT (hormone replacement therapy) to see if they could send samples or help with the cost of the medication.  She ended up scribbling a small note on her prescription pad, which went as follows:
     
“Patient is a 21 yo whose pain symptoms are relieved with Viveele. Patient is not wanting birth control.  Patient is unable to pay for meds.”

Now, I’m not sure about anyone else, but doesn’t it seem like it would be necessary to consult either the patient or the patient’s chart before writing something like this?  There are so many errors in such a small note that it’s inconceivable that the doctor could be so incompetent. 
The first error is the age.  I’m 26, not 21; five years can make a big difference in some cases.  The second error is the misspelling of Vivlle Dot, which had already spelled out for the doctor. The third error is that of “not wanting birth control” and stating that “Viveele” relieves my pain symptoms.  Vivelle Dot, for those who have no knowledge of it, is a transdermal patch used as hormone replacement therapy and does not help relieve any sort of pain.  Now, I’ll be the first admit that if I were a doctor looking at a 26 year old female patient, I’d probably assume that she was on birth control too.  The point of the matter, though, is that she should have consulted me, or even my chart, which states that I had my “remaining ovary” removed, which is indicative of the fact that I no longer have the organs that would necessitate being on birth control. 
What’s worse is I have proof of the incompetence.  Is this how we want our doctors to be?  So incompetent that they know nothing about the patient that they’re seeing?  How often is this scenario repeated in different cases with different doctors and patients, all over the world? You know the adage of “the customer is always right”?  I don’t necessarily agree with this, but in this case, it is; just replace the word “customer” with “patient” and you have this scenario perfectly.

Quote:


Really? On the other hand, thanks to Medicaid, I'm able to see any doctor anywhere in the State, use just about any facility and am treated as well as anyone. Doctors and hospitals love Medicaid as there is never a question of payment. It's automatic. It even pays all my dental care. It's considered the best insurance in the country as it's pure socialized medicine and direct pay. There is never a wait and I can choose just about anyone I want. It's abused because it's too good.

Charlie

Charlie wrote on Sep 26^th, 2010 at 1:26pm:



That may be so in your state, charlie, but it's not in my state.  Physicians who accept Medicaid are difficult to find and the waits can be long (and there are many specialists who don't accept Medicaid because the payments are minuscule).  You just can't go anywhere and pick the doc you want.  Dental?  Not here, not unless you are under the age of 21.  Not only that, but medicaid eligibility is much narrower in this state.

I also agree with Brew, it's abused because it's free, not because it's good (edited my mistake).

Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or

Brew is right. Of course it's the medical professional pricks, not the patients that are the abusers. Fix that and it will be even better.

By the way, "free" as it will be some day is good.

Charlie

Quote:


I could handle Norway though

I should add that there are only a few dentists that deal with Medicaid here too but fortunately, the one I found does better work than my old one and there is no extra waiting that I can detect.

I have to say that I have had better access to medicine than ever since Medicaid. Some of this may just be being 64. Doctors love to push pills on us and probably get the shakes when thinking how much they can dig out of the fund. I've had to tell him to knock it off with all the pills he'd like me to take. Frankly, a burp or a stubbed toe aren't reasons to write a prescription. Anyway, the most I pay for drugs is $1.10 copay.

I think this thread has worn me out. I'll be around somewhere else though.

Charlie