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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsI'm going to miss French healthcare when I leave
My wife and I both had a really bad cold this weekend, but mine got better while hers settled in the lungs. So we called the SOS Médecins line. It's like 911 but for urgent care rather than emergencies; it was rolled out to reduce needless ambulance usage. It's funded by the cities and towns along with fire, police, etc.
Anyways you call and describe your symptoms and they send a doctor to your house within three hours. He usually just writes a prescription or tells you not to hold your arm like that or whatever, or he might decide you need to go to the hospital, so he calls the ambulance. (You can always call the ambulance yourself in an emergency.) He listened to my wife wheeze and wrote her some prescriptions. It cost 120 (I think 20 of that was because he prescribed; if you want to go to your GP who prescribes for free you can do that). The course of antibiotics was about 50 at the pharmacy, and they had everything in stock (I'll grant that is mostly just luck). Those are the uninsured costs, since we're not on the French insurance system.
I was trying to come up with what it would take to get US healthcare like that and I'm stuck. There's not a single magic bullet. They still have private for-profit insurance that most people get through their employer, they still have something like Medicaid for the poorer part of the population. They still have something like Medicare for the elderly and something like the VA for veterans.
This is what I find so frustrating. It's like France and the US started with the same set of Lego blocks, and they built this elegant theme park, but we built this absolute God-awful monstrosity that is simultaneously falling over and catching on fire.
redwitch
(14,933 posts)How wonderful!
Merlot
(9,696 posts)Yes, we have the best medical services, but only the rich and well insured can take full advantage.
The rest of us get "alternative medicine" and go-fund-me pages.
hunter
(38,264 posts)By the numbers our healthcare is not the best for anyone.
Medical care is frequently grotesquely expensive and dangerously inappropriate, especially for the wealthy.
U.S. Americans think "We're Number One!" for a lot of things because they never leave the country.
3catwoman3
(23,813 posts)...area, in the far northwest suburbs. We have 3 locations. We have people who come to us from just over the Illinois-Wisconsin border, and from at least 4 different counties.
In the office, we have equipment with which to do rapid strep, flu and RSV tests. No way to haul that stuff around with you.
House calls would be completely impossible.
Recursion
(56,582 posts)The doctor didn't use any equipment that hasn't been around for a century or so. He listened to her lungs with a stethoscope and looked at her throat. Then he wrote a prescription.
3catwoman3
(23,813 posts)...Rice Krispies when you pour the milk on.
You cannot diagnose strep by looking. Sometimes there are characteristic visible signs. Often, the throat doesnt even look red.
Recursion
(56,582 posts)That's what I mean, the providers here just don't have that uber-defensive mindset.
3catwoman3
(23,813 posts)...unfortunately, IMO, characterizes much of American health care. My boss just shared with me an 18 page list of things our practices malpractice provider thinks we need to include in every visit so as to protect ourselves against potentially unhappy patients/parents. 18 goddamned pages! Our schedule allots 15 minutes for a sick visit, and 30 for a well visit. When the hell do I have time to document 18 pages worth of crap?
With the advent of electronic medical records, I spend more time documenting what I do than doing what I do. When charting an after-hours phone conversation I must type out the name of the parent with whom I am speaking in my narrative, even though I have already clicked the box with the name and # of the person I am calling in a different part of the chart. We must include, at the end of every note, what I have come to call the CYA statement, to the effect of every question answered to parental satisfaction, and I thought of questions the parent should have asked bit didnt, and answered those anticipatorily.
If we recommend a specialist visit, and the family doesnt go, our nurses are supposed to call them 3 times to remind them that they really, really should make that appointment. If they no show for an appointment with us, the front desk staff is supposed to call at least twice to find out why they didnt show up and offer them a new appointment time.
Every work day, I spend 2-3 hours of my own time, in the evening, completing my documentation, because there is not enough time to get it done during a patient visit, with the thoroughness and attention to detail that I demand of myself.
I have loved my job for most of my career. Not so much the last few years. So much of what we do and how we do it is insurance driven. I care about the patients and parents I see being happy with what I do. I dont give a rats ass about what the insurance companies think of me, but I have to, because that will not pay for the visits of we dont do things their way.
Recursion
(56,582 posts)But, I mean, Medicare coding isn't exactly fun either, right? Every other country's system seems light years simpler than either our public or private ones.
Response to Recursion (Reply #4)
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bullwinkle428
(20,626 posts)for the U.S., and yet, the outcomes are apparently better in France (in my opinion).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care_in_France
Recursion
(56,582 posts)It's like we have these giant blinders on and can only look at financing and nothing else, even though that isn't really the problem. France has private insurance sold by for-profit companies. That isn't the problem.
CountAllVotes
(20,854 posts)It was several years ago and I was in sad shape after the flight.
The hotel called a doctor for me and he came to my room with an assistant. He spent about and hour with me and gave me several options for the problems I was having.
The cost was about $125.00 and my insurance here in the USA reimbursed me for it when I got home believe it or not.
Not only was the care wonderful, the doctor was very good looking!
I'm glad to know you received good care in France!
marlakay
(11,370 posts)Trip to Ireland when I was in Dublin, I heard best way to find doctor was ask at pharmacy so I did, they were connected to a doctors office which doctor had a few min free and saw me within 5 min. Gave me prescription for 3 things, I was having major stomach problems.
Then I went back into pharmacy and total bill was 80 including visit to doctor and drugs.
Recursion
(56,582 posts)I've lived there and I had no idea. But there are like 5 different same-day flat-fee physician housecall services.
GoneOffShore
(17,309 posts)We got our Carte Vitale's after 5 or 6 months and got a 'mutuelle' at the same time.
Regular office visit with our GP is, as you know 25 and we get 17 back. Specialist visit a bit higher.
Two weeks ago I went to the cardiologist because I had had a couple of fainting fits. He did an in-office ECG, blood pressure at the beginning of the exam and at the end, etc, etc and when finished told me everything was 'Impeccable'. I handed him my Carte Vitale, and my bank card and the charge was 77. There was a secretary outside handling the waiting room for the practice and scheduling, but that was the extent of the office staff. Billing handled centrally.
I like the system here.
a la izquierda
(11,784 posts)I had a horrendous case of strep in Barcelona two years ago. The doctor came to my hotel. No the doctor didnt do a strep test. Instead he talked to me and I informed him that I have had at least one case of strep every year since I was about 4. Two injections and two Rx for 200. It would have been cheaper had I walked to a clinic, but I felt awful.
I got strep again in England. I went to a pharmacy that had video conferencing with a doctor. Again, I explained that I always get it, £40 later I walked out with meds.
Both doctors told me to get my tonsils out. Both suggested it might be cheaper in Europe even without being on the NHS or Spanish medical system. My insurance wont cover the removal unless I get three cases IN A CALENDAR YEAR.
Recursion
(56,582 posts)Because "MFA without giving a shit" isn't going to be particularly nice.