My docs are pretty good about discussing costs of meds at least. I don’t have the best insurance. We haven’t spoken much about treatments but I don’t do much outside of meds.
Not sure why they’re so good at discussing it. I know they have a lot of geriatric patients. I don’t know if Medicare makes them more aware of costs or what. I do go to their offices in a poor area of town.
If it’s glargine insulin, we use it for 6 months after initial spike for veterinary patients. As long as it stays refrigerated and you’re using aseptic technique for withdrawing doses, it’s really just fine for 6 months.
And for the OP, I answered “no.” Other than verifying my co-pay with the office person and making sure the “may substitute” box is checked on my scripts, cost has never come up with my doctor.
It is the glargine. I actually got my pharmacy to split a box and sell me one pen. I find the pens much easier when only drawing up one unit anyway, and keeping a vial refrigerated means going up and down stairs multiple times a day, while the pen can be left out for a month.
Mine does.
She knows inhaler-A will cost me $11 while inhaler-B will cost me $21. So of course she writes me a prescription for inhaler-A. But she still lets me choose.
You aren’t kidding. My insurance would pay for arthroscopic ankle surgery multiple times, and the necessary followup PT, and all kinds of expensive prescription anti-inflammatories ad infinitum, but specifically excludes orthotics, the cheapest, least invasive way to deal with the pain.
I said “No”, in that I don’t discuss politics with him. I do however quiz him about cost when he wants to switch up my BP meds; as in, if there are drugs on the insurance plan’s formulary that will work and be really cheap or free, I ask him to prescribe those over the name-brand ones that I’ll pay the full amount for.
I have talked about the ridiculous price of some prescriptions and the insurance formulary. My doctor prescribed me a special soap, which cost $100 for a 6-oz. tube AND contained fragrance, to which I am allergic. I found an identical product with no fragrance for $6. When I told her about it, she said something about how she didn’t know it was that expensive, and was sorry that I couldn’t afford it. I probably had steam coming out of my ears when I told her that I COULD afford it. I’m just not STUPID enough to pay it.
I have good health insurance so my usual conversation is to make sure that the doctor accepts that insurance.
Sometimes something isn’t covered. I was having a procedure done that wasn’t covered so I was going to be paying for it out of my pocket and it was going to cost $130. The doctor told me people often space the procedure out over two visits. I told her I would prefer to get it done in one.
I was getting a prescription for something that wasn’t covered. When the doctor prescribed it he gave me a coupon that took fifteen dollars off it. When I got the prescription refilled, I went back to the doctor’s office and asked for another coupon.
The only time I can remember discussing costs with a Canadian physician was when the doctor was discussing a prescription drug that wasn’t covered by my health plan.
Yeah, we talk about sex also.
One time I got a different brand of medicine because I told them I could not afford that co-pay.
Talk about the general health thing in all aspects.
I get appointments for first one in the AM or the last one at night. I end up with much more actual doctor time on average.
Beat me to it.
It would never occur to me to talk to my GP about the cost of my treatment (zero to me except for my tax contributions). It’s a long time since I’ve been referred to a specialist but they tend to mention, when you make the first appointment, if they charge above the scheduled fee (most do) but most is claimable from Medicare, so I’m never out of pocket a lot.
I don’t have a doctor.
My GP has my medical aid details, I don’t think I’ve paid for a GP visit, ever.
UK, no. There’s nothing to discuss.
They find out what is wrong with me and prescribe the relevant medicine (a flat rate of £8.05 regardless of what it is…children, pregnant womem, OAPS and those on social security benefits don’t pay).
Or they refer me to a specialist and they work it out…again, no charge.
Do you need an appointment?
How fast can you schedule cancer surgery?
Can you get a referral from your doctor in one day and walk into the MRI service the next?
Everyone I personally talk to has horror stories of the wait times in the UK, Canada and even AU is a bit slow but I don’t interact with them that much.
You all must have a very superior class of people in every level of government than we do here.
Free is not much good if you die waiting to get scheduled. And that does not happen with socialized medicine in the UK or Canada?
Are eyes covered completely?
Free surgery for eye repair or you just have to keep wearing glasses?
How do you get cataract surgery? For free?
I am not saying things here are better than there, but why do people from there not just rave about the health care? Why do the wealthy come here or go to other countries for a lot of their medical care?
If it is all regulated by the government, how do the doctors become well to do?
I am confused. 
I tend to discuss prescription options with my PCP for cost purposes. Not so much with my present insurance (we got a much better plan this year), but past drug coverage was such a PITA that I tried to make sure that anything that was prescribed was on the $10 list at Kroger to avoid the hassle.
I do request syncronized appointments with my PCP and the nephrologist in order to share the same lab tests. This cuts my co-pay (and time spent) in half.
GusNSpot – I mentioned a Canadian friend’s ER bill upthread. It is at least 10x cheaper than one in the US would’ve been. (Friend had bike accident. Friend broke his leg.)
Once he gave the hospital his insurance card (he hadn’t taken it biking and had an accident), his ER cost was $0. His visit to an orthopedic surgeon? $0. His meds? $0, IIRC, or a very low amount of $$. His surgery (which he didn’t have to wait for), $0.
I have another Canadian pal who has a chronic degenerative musculoskeletal condition. He has never had any difficulty with getting medication, visits, or surgery paid for.
My friends both live in a city, so there is no unusual wait time to see a doctor or receive treatment. Things are different in less-populated areas…just like in the US.
We have that in the US. It’s called “prior authorization”. Insurance just says, screw you, we’re not paying.
It happens more than you think in our capitalist paradise.
I’ve recently undergone a lot of expensive tests to diagnose a health issue. My doctors and I discussed what we would test for first, based on the likelihood of it being that diagnosis, and the cost of the test. (ie. CAT scan before the MRI, etc.)
I’ll speak for Scotland (as the fine details are different from the NHS in other parts of the UK - it’s devolved to all four constituent parts).
You get a free eye exam every two years - private optometrist - and the NHS pays for it. (This is different in England I think)
Eye damage repair is free under the NHS.
Cataract surgery is free under the NHS
Our baseline for healthcare is different from yours. Most British people alive have never had to worry about some of the odd things that US posters often discuss. Things like worrying about co-pays and whatnot, when you are ill. No-one has been bankrupted for want of paying medical bills, etc. That’s just the norm for people here - the only people likely to rave about it are people who have also experienced a worse system.
Lots of people come to the UK too. Remember that private medicine also exists here, and many top NHS consultants also have a private practice.