Had my annual exam this morning...I hate the American health care system!!

[Critters2]

Had my annual check-up--pap test, mammogram, etc--this morning. It reminded me how fucked up our system is.

First, I now have to go to a doctor at this big, corporate-feeling clinic where you have to stop and make your co-pay before you can see your doc. I used to go to this small clinic--one doc, one PA, one nurse, one receptionist. They knew my name and my history, etc. But that clinic is no longer in my network for some damn reason. So, I go to the big place and see "Dr. #34" (honest, that's what it says on the sheet they give you when you arrive, that you carry around and get things checked off on). I like the doctor well enough, but one does feel caught in a web of bureaucracy.

So, I pay my $25 to even go to the waiting room. I go and check in, and take a seat. I'm surrounded by advertising of all kinds. There are posters on the wall telling me to "ask your doctor" for everything from birth control to high fiber cereal. And in case I'm not paying attention to the posters and brochures lying about everywhere, there's a damn "health advice" screen on the wall, playing just one commercial after another!! There are notices everywhere about how three of the doctors in the clinic are now offering botox injections. I sat in the waiting room for 45 minutes, waiting for preventative health care, implying the clinic may have enough business with real sick people. But NOOO, they're advertising for more business--from vain, healthy people!! :banghead:
Then I'm taken to the exam room, where I sit another 20 minutes, surrounded by more advertising. Honestly, it takes real effort to ignore it all. Are these doctors, or prostitutes?!!

Things would be SOOOO much better if we had universal, single payer health care. For one thing, there'd be some actual oversight. Doctors would be less likely to prescribe advertised meds for things that could be treated less expensively. And clinics would be expected to focus on real illnesses, rather than wrinkles and such shit.

At least, that's my dream of what single payer universal care would be like. I may be wrong. I'd sure like the opportunity to find out!!

[TZ]

1. Doctors don't get kickbacks for prescribing expensive meds

The docs I go to give me generics if available. Nor does all the advertising mean that much. Some places have more than others. There is NO correlation between the amount of advertising and the level of care, IMO and I've been to plenty of doctors.
There is much more wrong with the system besides advertising. Its the bastard insurance companies who try to play doctor that make the biggest mess of things.
Even at the Mayo clinic, where I got EXCELLENT care- there is advertising

[Critters2]

2. I used to work as a health care consumer advocate, and got to know people

in all kinds of positions in the system. Doctors get kickbacks for allowing the advertising in the clinics. They also get amazing perks from the drug companies along with the advertising--trips to the Caribbean and the like. And they are more likely to prescribe advertised drugs than those that are not advertised. There've been studies that show this, but more importantly, it's common sense. The companies wouldn't pay for all that advertising if it didn't help their bottom line.

And the AMA and other medical advocacy groups are in bed with the insurance companies. Both insurance and doctors have fought against single-payer, universal health care tooth and nail!! Both segments of the industry benefit from the system we have in place now, and from each other's complicity with it.

The money used for advertising should be used for research into real illnesses to produce real benefits. And doctors should NOT be handing out botox until the real diseases are under control.

[tigereye]

3. my doctor is cool and the current practice where she is has no ads in the

waiting room. It's a bigger practice - but she's worth the aggravation...


There was an NPR piece on the other day talking about how reg. docs have to do botox now to get by. Not good.

[Critters2]

4. Define "get by". There was a jaguar parked in the lot at this place.

I'll bet it belonged to a doctor. I was on a committee to bring a doctor to my small town in Iowa. It was interesting to get to know the docs. What a bunch of spoiled children and prima donnas. With most of 'em, it was clear in the drive from the airport to town that they thought they were too good for us. If we didn't get the message that early, the shock on their faces when they learned they'd have to use a *gasp* public golf course did the trick. The DOs were better--by far--than the MDs, but few of them had a real sense of public service or vocation. It was deeply disappointing.

So, my sense of what doctors consider "getting by" and what I do is probably quite different. I doubt they'd have trouble paying their bills without the botox business. But they might have to forego the country club dues.

There's a recession on. We all have to tighten our belts.

[tigereye]

7. my doc isn't like that, but I know some are

I'm sure she does ok, but she works really hard, too and is very open minded about alternative treatments as long as they aren't risky.



The NPR piece was more about the old-school gp-types and pediatricians who actually care a lot about the patients and are inundated with low-pay insurances that don't cover actual costs, and endless paperwork.


Granted they make a lot more than we probably do! My husband was joking about dentists and how much they make! Apparently orthodontists REALLY rake in the cash.

[Fran Kubelik]

5. you're having a tough week, eh?

[mnhtnbb]

6. Makes me happy for my current doc. His exam room has cartoons

cut out from newspapers and pasted up on the walls. If you call in the a.m. and need to get in--they see you. You make your co-pay on the way out the door.