Government run health care

[RICHARD]

But unlike the lean NHS, there’s a spare tyre of fat on the system and any Briton who has been treated in America can tell you where it lies: around the bellies of physicians grown corpulent on prescribing unnecessary treatment.

To us it is unimaginable that a doctor would order a scan, pills, an invasive test, an operation even, not based on whether it will make us well but on how much he can charge.

I have to laugh at this comment and question the person who wrote it.
It show imagination and a facinating amount of stupidity.


MOST docs here in the U.S. do not have the equipment or facilities to perform half the tests they want to do.

They have to send people or blood, urine or biopsys off site to a lab. THe lab charges them to process the specimens.

If a MD does not do a test, order a scan or exam and the patient goes for a second opinion and is found to be negligent, he is in for a lawsuit.

There are only a few that would think about prescribing tests/exams to make money, Oh, you do have the doc that had to pay for the new x-ray machine he bought. But those AHs are few and far between.

I worked for an HMO who was trying to cut costs by telling the doctors NOT to ask for 'unnecessary' tests or exams.

The 'word' and emails ended up being made public-I think there were doctors who felt that they were put in very hard place as far as the care they were dispensing.


What do you tell a patient that has XXXXXXXX and you were unable to help them because you were asked not to test them for it?

------------------

Here's a dirty little secret about sutures, the pharm companies and implant devices.


The companies who make them are vicious sellers of their components -
Don't blame the doctors for prescribing pills - there are only so many meds made that can be given for illnesses.

Same with stents, pacemakers, bone and other vessel replacement parts.

Sutures?

They come in so many versions it's like buying cigarettes.

Dissolveable and non, thin and thick thread, needle size and shape, materials

Our facility had entered into an agreement where the sales rep would come in and stock the shelves. The rep would bring in tons of sutures then charge the company, If suture was not used, it was taken off the shelves and replaced with suture that WAS used. The company was given credit for the unused suture and re-billed for the suture that was used.

At a higher price.
-----------------------

Blaming the MD for the high price of HC is a crock of crap, a lie and shows how a 'journalist' can slant a topic to make anyone look bad.


The idiot who wrote that article needs a proctoscopic exam to have her brain examined.

[Edwina's Secretary]

My doctor sent me to a specialist for a sore on my ear. I waited one hour to see the specialist. He looked at my ear - wrote a prescription. I was there less than five minutes.

His writing was so sloppy the drug store wrote - "put on right leg twice a day."

I went back as instructed after two weeks. First appointment of the day. Waited an hour again.

He looked at my ear. Said the cream didn't work. Less than five minutes again.

So I still have the sore on my ear.

AFTER my insurance paid that total of less than ten minutes cost me over $300.00.

There is a guy who goes to my gym. He is a dermalogist. He drives a Bentley.

I am not saying doctors are the whole problem. But then again neither did the author of the article Miss Z posted.

[sasvermont]

With the exception of one GP, every doctor I have been to has had some form of testing capabilities in his office or is affiliated (group practice) with a business within the practices.

Example: over 20 years ago, I went through chemotherapy. The doctor treating me did all the testing in his office. All of the administration was done in his office. The surgery and radiation, however, was not done in his office but in the hospital. That was in the city of Philadelphia.

Example: just days ago, I visited a surgeon who did my xrays in his office. Two years ago, a different surgeon, different practice, did my xrays in his office. My GP does all his blood work, in his office. He has a bone density scanner in his office. And these last examples are in a rather small city in Vermont!

I don't have any figures to support it, but my experience is that doctors caught on a long time ago, many of them in group practices that is, and they knew that there is money in having your own labs etc.

Doctors are part of the problem with the sky high medical expenses, along with insurance companies, lawyers, misuse, and abuse! I haven't met a poor doctor yet, have you? Well, maybe the poor sucker who administered Michael Jackson that lethal dose.

Richard, you make your statements to sound as though you have all the answers and you are RIGHT. I don't claim to have the answers by a long shot, but my experiences have NOT been what you claim doctors are about.....

Sorry, I don't agree with your thinking.

P. S. Oh, ES, did that thing on your right leg ever clear up?

[Edwina's Secretary]

P. S. Oh, ES, did that thing on your right leg ever clear up?

Right leg looks great...my right ear however is another matter

[lizbud]

Right leg looks great...my right ear however is another matter

It could have been worse. It could have been pre-surgery instructions.

[Edwina's Secretary]

It could have been worse. It could have been pre-surgery instructions.

Wouldn't that have been a mess! Cut off my right leg instead of my right ear...

[RICHARD]

With the exception of one GP, every doctor I have been to has had some form of testing capabilities in his office or is affiliated (group practice) with a business within the practices.

Example: over 20 years ago, I went through chemotherapy. The doctor treating me did all the testing in his office. All of the administration was done in his office. The surgery and radiation, however, was not done in his office but in the hospital. That was in the city of Philadelphia.

And then?

Read what I said VERY CAREFULLY.

MOST docs here in the U.S. do not have the equipment or facilities to perform half the tests they want to do.

I will say that I stated an incomplete thought here.......I should have added "on the premises".

My mistake and I will and do take the 'thump' for that.

Go back to your physician (GP) with some kind of funky arsed skin, bone, hearing or sight problems and see how fast he passes you off to a specialist.

A urinalysis, CBC, blood sugar and all the simple shiat can be done in a 'office lab". That is like going to a garage on the corner and having him check for a discharged battery. He can tell you THAT much, but you will have to go to the dealer so he can hook up the computer and tell you if it's an alternator, generator, comp chip, short or you left the key in the on position.

In case you didn't pay attention to the sign on the Dr's. door?
GP and Surgeon are two different animals. Get a Surgeon who specializes and that is another animal from the same family.

LOL,
You have such wonderful words for the doctor's you have seen for your health problems, yet you slam them for the money they make?

Next time, find a nice herbal store or holistic healer for a health problem.
Cheaper and they don't have to charge their patients for mal pract ins.
If you have the time, check out how doctors bill the gov't. and how long they wait to get paid for YOUR visit.
YOU get immediate satisfaction for your treatment and the poor MD has to wait for money from BO and his ilk.

Next time you feel sick, shop around for a GP, Phys or Specialist for a discount rate or one that take coupons.


Here's the twist,
I do not have all the answers and if you think I do, you need to take a giant grain of salt (LOL buy a salt lick and chase that) - watch your blood pressure.


I don't know what I am talking about because I only worked for 30 years in the HC arena.......I was probably effing asleep for 29.76 of those years so I really don't know what I am talking about.


I am surprised that an ordinary consumer has such an inordinate, intimate knowledge of HC.

P.S. I really don't care for doctors, but some of the BS that people shout from the roof tops is total cat crap, it behooves me to let it ride. I see you do not have all the answers, so you are just as handicapped as I am.

[Grace]

If you have the time, check out how doctors bill the gov't. and how long they wait to get paid for YOUR visit.
YOU get immediate satisfaction for your treatment and the poor MD has to wait for money from BO and his ilk.

I get these statements from Medicare - they pay first. Then I get statements from my secondary insurance. I really can't believe the amount of time that passes between visit and final payment. No wonder some doctors get fed up and don't want to deal with Medicare.

I also see what Medicare will pay for diabetic supplies. Not near enough to reimburse my supplier.

HOWEVER, Richard, the money does not come from the President, be it Obama, Bush, Clinton. All this was in place long before any of them even thought of becoming president. Remember, LBJ - back in 1965. Why I bet you were just a young whipper-snapper back then?

[RICHARD]

I get these statements from Medicare - they pay first. Then I get statements from my secondary insurance. I really can't believe the amount of time that passes between visit and final payment. No wonder some doctors get fed up and don't want to deal with Medicare.

I also see what Medicare will pay for diabetic supplies. Not near enough to reimburse my supplier.

HOWEVER, Richard, the money does not come from the President, be it Obama, Bush, Clinton. All this was in place long before any of them even thought of becoming president. Remember, LBJ - back in 1965. Why I bet you were just a young whipper-snapper back then?

Don't you comment about my whipper snapper! LOLOLOL,
I know the money doesn't come from the Presidents.

I was making that statement as a slam about how slow the gov't. moves when it comes to billing. You know by now I am a little confused about how things work.

[Grace]

Don't you comment about my whipper snapper! LOLOLOL,

I'll do my best to avoid that subject from now on

[Marigold2]

You are correct, Medicare does pay fast and they pay well. Better then most insurances. That is why Dr's love it. Also on Medicare you have one year to file a claim with Anthem or Blue Cross you have 6 months, with United Health Care I believe it's 90 days.
As for those dreaded secondary insurances, someone has to send the Explaninton of Benefits from the primary usually Medicare to them on paper, sometimes if we are busy 5 or 6 months can go by before we get to some. It is not the insurance company that holds it up it is the Dr's office. The secondary sometimes only pay $5.00 or $6.00 so it isn't on the top of our list to do. We are trying to get the surgery claims out first that is where the big bucks are.
Dr's are not so fond of Medicaid or Wellcare or Caresource as they are very hard to collect form and they pay very little.
Where Medicare might pay $100.00 for an office visit, Caresource will only pay $20.00 for same visit. A Dr cannot run an office with mostly Caresource patients, he would be in the hole. No Dr will work for $20.00 an hour nor should they.

I get these statements from Medicare - they pay first. Then I get statements from my secondary insurance. I really can't believe the amount of time that passes between visit and final payment. No wonder some doctors get fed up and don't want to deal with Medicare.

I also see what Medicare will pay for diabetic supplies. Not near enough to reimburse my supplier.

HOWEVER, Richard, the money does not come from the President, be it Obama, Bush, Clinton. All this was in place long before any of them even thought of becoming president. Remember, LBJ - back in 1965. Why I bet you were just a young whipper-snapper back then?

[Edwina's Secretary]

That would help explain it...when we first moved to California five years ago I went looking for doctors here. I could not understand why so many of them said they were only accepting new patients who were on Medicare.

It was confusing to me at the time....

[Grace]

You are correct, Medicare does pay fast and they pay well. Better then most insurances. That is why Dr's love it. Also on Medicare you have one year to file a claim with Anthem or Blue Cross you have 6 months, with United Health Care I believe it's 90 days.
As for those dreaded secondary insurances, someone has to send the Explaninton of Benefits from the primary usually Medicare to them on paper, sometimes if we are busy 5 or 6 months can go by before we get to some. It is not the insurance company that holds it up it is the Dr's office. The secondary sometimes only pay $5.00 or $6.00 so it isn't on the top of our list to do. We are trying to get the surgery claims out first that is where the big bucks are.
Dr's are not so fond of Medicaid or Wellcare or Caresource as they are very hard to collect form and they pay very little.
Where Medicare might pay $100.00 for an office visit, Caresource will only pay $20.00 for same visit. A Dr cannot run an office with mostly Caresource patients, he would be in the hole. No Dr will work for $20.00 an hour nor should they.

I think you misread my post. I did not state that Medicare paid fast, nor do they pay well. I also stated that I now understand why some physicians will not take Medicare patients.

Medicare takes it own sweet time; then my backup takes over. My backup insurance is fantastic - it's the same thing I had when I was working.

And did you not see where I said this - I also see what Medicare will pay for diabetic supplies. Not near enough to reimburse my supplier.


Before I turned 65, my private insurance would pay pretty much all my diabetic supplies. Medicare is a disgrace as far as supplies go.

And don't even get me started on Medicare prescription drugs. We both have insurance that covers prescriptions, and both of them are far better than Medicare.

[Miss Z]

If a MD does not do a test, order a scan or exam and the patient goes for a second opinion and is found to be negligent, he is in for a lawsuit.

What do you tell a patient that has XXXXXXXX and you were unable to help them because you were asked not to test them for it?

------------------

That's not the point. It's not that patients aren't tested for something which is suspected, i.e. the symptoms are enough evidence to point towards a decent probability of one particular condition. It's when doctors start saying 'Well, it could be X, Y or Z, so therefore we'll give you treatment for all three, just in case.' That's what the article is getting at.

Still, if doctors are under so much pressure from looming lawsuits should they practice under correct regulations (it is practically and morally wrong to oversubscribe drugs, as it promotes natural selection of pathogens), then I can understand why they would want to throw medication at you to keep you quiet.

On the point that I highlighted about TV adverts pushing prescription drugs - I remember seeing a few such advertisements when I was over in the USA and finding them bizarre.

From what I keep reading about this topic, both here and elsewhere, it seems that a lot of US citizens feel that an NHS system has the President/Prime Minister/whatever pushing all the buttons. That's incorrect. Our NHS is government controlled, but it is not party controlled. There's a massive difference.

[RICHARD]

(it is practically and morally wrong to oversubscribe drugs, as it promotes natural selection of pathogens)

Please explain that sentence.

I am sitting here, stunned.

And give me an example-I'm stripping my brain thinking about this.
--------------


A group of doctors delivered a petition to congress with the sigs of 10,000 docs who want to be included in the HCR issue.....


LOLOLOLOL,

again, having a bunch of docs chiming in to have a say in what would be good for HCR......

What experience do they have and would they sound like they have all the answers/

Probably not. they are just looking after themselves and the money they make.

Eff me to tears.