Cat Chasing Its Tail
I was dogged with a sinus infection for 2 weeks. Yesterday, I had to fight to get care for it because providers tell you most of the time it is virus based and they cannot do anything about it. But I knew I was so sick. I even called a nurse before going in. She didn't take any notes of our conversation. She said to come in. Then I had to start all over, and I decided to write it all down. The doctor believed me when I listed each home remedy I had tried, then saw one thing I didn't: fluid in my ears.
What was frightening to me was not having a primary care doctor. The HMO and insurance people do not talk to each other. I thought I had arranged for a new one in May. I had to be on the phone for 3 hours to get another one appointed (and didn't know certain doctors weren't taking patients), and at that, I'm not certain it is going to happen. My insurance company says it's MY responsibility to know which providers are available, and yet the doctors don't tell the insurance when they don't take any more patients, so it's the cat chasing the tail. AND I'm told this is MY fault for not knowing.
As far I am concerned, I have at the moment is emergency care, and luckily I don't pay much for it, We need to reform the whole system in which primary care physicians who claim they cannot take any more patients--that shouldn't matter. They should take anyone, and I think I shouldn't need a primary care provider to know my records. Those records are a joke. When I have to write all of my current meds down in an emergency situation, when all they have to do is pull them up, it's ridiculous. Too much burden on someone who is sick as it is to remember everything.
It's more than insurance reform--it needs to be both insurance and health care reform. Why did JRE make so much money as a lawyer? Because doctors don't give a damn if you are poor or underinsured. I think the doctors try but too many procedures. All I needed were 3 meds, and at that, one of them that cost 10 dollars a few years ago was $77 yesterday? Why, because it is pure and what patients most need, but they claim is over the counter is preferred when OTC contains other stuff that is less effective and has other chemicals in in that don't help or can mess up the system. Tests aren't conclusive, in my view.
No wonder people are angry. The conservatives think private insurance is good when insurance companies don't talk to doctors or providers and vice versa?
Obama hasn't been sick in years and has had government care. Why isn't he fighting for us who need to see reform from top to bottom?
Health care is still for the rich. I hate that notion. So does EE.
Mr President, your speech better be inclusive as reform needs to be at all levels, not just at Max Baucus' good government run care or the insurance companies who are not required to negotiate with pharmas who are charging outrageous amounts for good medicine when other countries have lower costs.
What was frightening to me was not having a primary care doctor. The HMO and insurance people do not talk to each other. I thought I had arranged for a new one in May. I had to be on the phone for 3 hours to get another one appointed (and didn't know certain doctors weren't taking patients), and at that, I'm not certain it is going to happen. My insurance company says it's MY responsibility to know which providers are available, and yet the doctors don't tell the insurance when they don't take any more patients, so it's the cat chasing the tail. AND I'm told this is MY fault for not knowing.
As far I am concerned, I have at the moment is emergency care, and luckily I don't pay much for it, We need to reform the whole system in which primary care physicians who claim they cannot take any more patients--that shouldn't matter. They should take anyone, and I think I shouldn't need a primary care provider to know my records. Those records are a joke. When I have to write all of my current meds down in an emergency situation, when all they have to do is pull them up, it's ridiculous. Too much burden on someone who is sick as it is to remember everything.
It's more than insurance reform--it needs to be both insurance and health care reform. Why did JRE make so much money as a lawyer? Because doctors don't give a damn if you are poor or underinsured. I think the doctors try but too many procedures. All I needed were 3 meds, and at that, one of them that cost 10 dollars a few years ago was $77 yesterday? Why, because it is pure and what patients most need, but they claim is over the counter is preferred when OTC contains other stuff that is less effective and has other chemicals in in that don't help or can mess up the system. Tests aren't conclusive, in my view.
No wonder people are angry. The conservatives think private insurance is good when insurance companies don't talk to doctors or providers and vice versa?
Obama hasn't been sick in years and has had government care. Why isn't he fighting for us who need to see reform from top to bottom?
Health care is still for the rich. I hate that notion. So does EE.
Mr President, your speech better be inclusive as reform needs to be at all levels, not just at Max Baucus' good government run care or the insurance companies who are not required to negotiate with pharmas who are charging outrageous amounts for good medicine when other countries have lower costs.
Labels: benny's world, health care, President Barack Hussein Obama
posted by benny06 at
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
5 Comments:
Many sinus infections are bacterial. If you suffer from repeat sinus infections, buy a "nasal cup" (aka neti cup) and rinse with saline solution regularly to remove the media that bacteria can live on. Here's a rare (actually not so rare) case where the health food store helped me more than my primary care physician. But if you do wind up with an active bacterial infection, antibiotics will become necessary. I got fewer, milder sinus infections after using the nasal cup.
By the way, Nasalcrom (over the counter) is great for keeping noses that suffer from allergic rhinitis in check. Nasalcrom is even safe for pregnant people, though it is a bother have to spray four times a day.
By
oklahomavoter, at 6:20 AM
Insurance companies should be part of the solution rather than part of the problem. In a sense, they kick people when they are down and most defenseless. They get far lower marks than Medicare and Medicaid in the popularity poles. The very sight of an insurance envelope raises my blood pressure: stimulus - response.
By
oklahomavoter, at 6:28 AM
OKvoter, I did that many times before going to the health care provider. That was one of the remedies I listed. It was only when the doctor saw fluid in my ears in addition to the nasal passages swelled and irritation that I finally got anti-biotics.
Normally, I would go earlier to the doctors, despite the "wellness" techniques, I would have been sent home. It's BS betwn the insurance company and the doctors who really aren't shareholders, and in some instances, don't feel like they are stakeholders. The doc yesterday was good, but shouldn't all doctors be as good as that one in general? Nope, it is about greed again, in some instances.
My momma worked for a pediatrician when I was very young. He was one of the best with bed-side manners. But I confess I didn't like his nurses. They were horrible with children in procedures with childhood disease injections. As a result, to this day, I have a fear of needles, but truly it was terrifying for me and it hurt most of the time. My point is that our doctor, no matter how horrible his nurses were in giving injections, gave us care. He loved his profession to child care . Why can't adults be treated the same as kids at times?
I miss doctors who cared for us. They do the best they can, but HMOs and income didn't rule my childhood doctor. Maybe today he would be different if ruled by HMOS or maybe the gov't. I am willing to bet he would take the gov't money and not be wasteful.
By
benny06, at 11:25 AM
I am EXTREMELY fortunate to have very good health insurance through my employer at a price I can afford. I know how lucky I am. I also know it could go away at any moment as it has for so many others in this economy much less to have never had access in the first place. Health insurance is almost a lottery ticket that depends entirely on your employer.
Even with good insurance, the insurer determines the quality of care not the doctors. Doctors are limited in the amount of time they can spend with a patient. They are also constrained in treatment for illness or injury based on what the insurer (the real "death panels") will cover. Red tape is a time consuming nightmare for the doctor and an excuse for the insurer to deny coverage because every t wasn't crossed properly.
Several years ago I saw an interview with a former insurance company employee who disclosed an unwritten policy to deny claims eight times. If the patient complained a ninth time, they paid because studies had shown a person who complained nine times was unlikely to give up. The last thing someone who is sick needs is to fight a huge corporation with the ability to delay endlessly.
Anyone who claims to be happy with the status quo is either completely out of touch with reality or is lucky like me but with no compassion for others.
Obama and Congress have a responsibility to provide true reform. The elected officials admitting their goal is to prevent any reform will have suffering and death on their hands whether they admit it or not. Ultimately I'll accept it may not be possible to accomplish everything necessary at once but I won't accept surrender before the fight begins. Wouldn't it be refreshing if it were never a fight in the first place? We elect officials to serve us not to create more gridlock and divisiveness.
By
indyvoter, at 3:27 PM
P.S. I hope you are feeling better soon and can get the primary care physician snafu straightened out quickly!
By
indyvoter, at 3:28 PM
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