“America’s health care system is second only to Japan, Canada, Sweden, Great Britain, well… all of Europe. But you can thank your lucky stars we don’t live in Paraguay!”
Paraguay!?
< Awaaak…! >
“Our healthcare is Shit !”
“Our healthcare is Shit !”
< Awaaak…! >
Oh, sorry. That would be ‘Parrot Quay’ wouldn’t it?
( I’m never going to get the sweatshirt I wanted for Xmas, am I,? )
It’s not, since we have the same problems even in non-rural areas.
I live in a suburb of Seattle, essentially. Very much not rural. And I have been subject to some awful wait times. Once in my case it was a life-threatening situation where I needed urgent care, and they wanted to schedule me for days later. I told them, no, I am too young to die and I need help today. I did get help later that day, which is why I am able to type this. But yeah, we are pretty consistently shitty here everywhere.
Maybe the super-rich with personal doctors get supreme health care, but not us peasants.
You have to, Have to, advocate for yourself. If you don’t communicate well verbally, like me, yes, you very much can have a “wingman”.
Anyone that refuses that is automatically out. In my world.
If someone wants to set an appointment over 6 Mos away. Nope. I have called around for days looking for sooner appointments and get referrals changed. I ain’t ashamed to say, “Look, I’m just trying to stay alive, here!” with moist eyes.
It’s pretty much a full time job being terminal.
Yeah, I woulda walked out of that office or put up a major fuss like @Broomstick with the insurance on the line. That whole situation seems crazy - I have never heard of that happening, either. Totally unacceptable.
At least in California, they are not allowed to ask for your SSN to access medical care - there is a law preventing it. Whenever I am handed a form with a space for writing the SSN I always leave it blank - they do not need that info, and I will say that if I were asked.
I know our system is not good in many ways, but I am not sure this is accurate. We have not had any care horror stories over the years and have not had issues in getting appointments in a reasonable time. We can do vastly better to be more like every civilized country, but we are not universally shitty.
Exactly. If you’ve minded your Ps & Qs. You’ve paid the premiums and done your due diligence you can get good healthcare.
I don’t mind the searching for health services. It’s very rural here in this Medical desert so we’re used to it being an issue finding an appropriate doctor that your insurance covers and in a timely manner. It’s work folks.
No one said it was gonna be easy.
Suppose that there are only two neurologists in town, and one has a functional brain while the other does not; which one should you see?
That’s like the old puzzle, you are visiting a town and need a haircut. There are two barbers. One has a neat shop and a great haircut. The other has a shabby shop and his hair looks like he took a week-trimmer to it. Which do you go to for a haircut?
Dentists, on the other hand…
Exactly, that’s what I was referencing.
The answer is that obviously you should go to the mentally deranged neurologist, because his brain is under the care of the sane neurologist and look how he ended up; but the sane neurologist is under the insane neurologist’s care, and look how well he is doing!
(Results may vary)
“People. They’re the worst!” - Jerry Seinfeld
Well, the reason I was looking for a new one is my old one died! He was pretty good.
I ended up getting the same meds from my psychiatrist, since technically they are mood stabilizers (lamotrogine) and my seizures were believed to be related to taking Wellbutrin anyway - which I was taken off of immediately. It’s arguable I didn’t even need to continue taking an anti-convulsant, but lamotrigine turned out to be superb for managing my depression, so it’s now being prescribed to me as a mood stabilizer, I guess with the added benefit that it might be preventing seizures! (I have not had a seizure since 2016.)
Just steer clear of the neurologist who only lobotomizes patients who don’t lobotomize themselves.
Yeah, for sure. Of course we sorta kinda do have a public dental plan, but it’s very different from the simple streamlined UHC system. It’s the kind of mess that Americans would be familiar with. Last I heard it was being phased in based on age, I believe it’s income-dependent, it’s administered by private insurance (Sun Life) and it has to be renewed every year based on your tax filing. And not all dentists accept it – they have to voluntarily enroll in it. The majority of dentists have done so, but last I checked my dentist – who I really like – wasn’t on the list.
It would have been so very much simpler if dental had been part of our original UHC coverage, but there’s a long history of dentistry and traditional medical practice going down separate paths. One of the issues is that so much of dentistry is cosmetic, and the distinction between what is medically necessary and what isn’t is often rather murky.
Of course there is. But problems with UHC almost always come down to insufficient funding, not inherent problems with the system. Whereas the problems with for-profit health insurance are deeply intrinsic.
“He is the best neurologist in town, but just barely.”
“Okay, who is the second-best neurologist in town?”
“A guy who just died.”
Word. My latest appointment with the neurologist overseeing treatment of my essential tremor was in October; my next follow-up is is scheduled for July (even though we’re trying medication-based treatment strategies, and those can take some tweaking).
We peasants, if it’s not too much trouble.
Thank you for your attention to this matter!
If our economy keeps going the way the Greasy Orange Grifter wants, health care will be like old style bank branches… complete with bullet proof glass windows and a concave stainless steel cash slides built into the counter, so only people with cash can get ‘patched up’.
I’m sorry, that’s how peasants talk.
(It’s colloquial language, like the classic, “Ain’t Nobody Here But Us Chickens”.)
The biggest problem for me with the situation as described is that they had trapped OP into coming in without knowing the terms of business. What would have happened if he had walked out? Would they have tried to charge him for an office visit because he didn’t cancel in advance?
I mean, I understand why the doctor’s office might feel they need cash in advance (although some of the information they were asking for was completely gratuitous) but if that’s their choice, they need to disclose in advance. Most of my doctors have online check-in these days, where you give all your information in advance, and if it is a return visit you just confirm that nothing has changed, and when you arrive at the office there is no more paperwork. That would be an ideal opportunity to inform the patient of the terms of service. Whenever and however they do it, there is no excuse for springing this on the patient at the first visit.