Money > Health

[Michaelangelo]

I'm so sick of it, I hate it with a passion.  The medical field is so full of themselves.  They say they're there to save lives.  Though they stick bills on people's heads that most normal people could never afford to pay.  If you don't have medical you're screwed, your life is going to cost you.

What's the deal with it?

With Doctors, they are being hired to help you.   So that makes the people going to the doctors the customer.   Yet it isn't really treated on this basics, doctors get away with a lot more than they should.  Even though you're the one paying, if you're a few minutes late they can make the choice not to see you.   Though almost every time you go to the doctors, they're going to take a good extra half an hour to an hour to call you in back just for you to wait another 15 to 20 minutes, than to be seen for 15 minutes and be charged $80 or more.  Even if all they do is tell you to go home, drink lots of liquids and get plenty of rest.

Do they deserve that $80?   Sometimes yes, the money is needed for what they do.  But when it comes down to just getting help for a cold.  Than no, they don't.  People need them, so they get away with ripping big holes in our pockets.  

And even when you do have medical you have problems!  What if the insurance you have don't pay the bill?   Even though you pay them to take care of this stuff.   The doctors don't keep going after the insurance company, no they go after you!   Even though you paid the insurance company to take care of that stuff.  And who's record does it show up on?  The insurance companies???  No, yours!   They call and go after you, even though you have insurance, and gave the insurance info at the visit.   Where is the justice there?!    

Than there's the doctors that act like they know your body more than you do.   I get a bump in the back of my left wrist go to the doctors, that lady told me that looked normal!   Didn't take me serious.  Go for a second doctor's view and find out it's a cyst!  Than when I tell the doctors I want it removed, they turn around and say they don't work on cyst that small.   Small?  It's making it so I got issues doing stuff with my left hand I use to do.  If you're the one paying the doctor, isn't it your choice to have it taken out???   This was years ago, and all that cyst done is grow and now I don't have insurance to have it taken out.  

I now have a medical issue, I've had for two years now.  It's bad.  But it'd take a lot of test to figure out what is really going on with me, and test = money I don't have.  Since I got hurt at work I lost my medical through the job.  Which is going on three years ago now.  I win my worker comp, but that only pays for the stuff going on with my arm (which could end up in surgery soon for an implant to help with the pain control).  So now I make too much for State Medical, but I make to little for to pay for my own medical.  

So what is up with this country?   Where money comes before health.



Sorry this has been weighting on my head a lot lately... I hate this countries health plans.   It's like only the rich deserve to be healthy.   Even health food cost more than junk food... they wonder why so many Americans are over weight.  People buy what they can afford... but what if the doctor is in that area of can't afford....  and they got issues that free clients can't handle... than what?

[moronqueen]

For many, many things, money far outweighs what's really important in this country, as far as corporations go.

The kicker is, though, it's pretty much all we got when it comes to big stuff. If I were uninsured and and something big enough come up that I couldn't handle myself, I would go to the doctor. I'd just need to go into debt to do it, and likely give up all recreational spending. That'd be 'net, cell...and worst comes to worst, cutting back to the bare minimums on food, heat, electricity and water.

There's something profoundly wrong with those last two scentances, but unfortunately, that's the truth.

Yes, there are organizations who are there to help, but if you make just a little bit too much, you're screwed. Back when Jon had lost his job, and I was still at Sears, I had to carry us both financially on a rediculously small check, and while I was uninsured, we were lucky enough that his parents were able to afford to carry him on independant insurance so he could get stable enough to function again.

State aid though? No, I made too much. If I'd popped out a kid or two (in which case I WOULD go to a doc, in addition to a midwife), then we'd be golden, but just the two of us? Not worth it.

The key is to educate yourself on how things work, and how you can improve your own health through nutrition and all the other factors. It's how I've been managing my asthma for all these years, and unless it gets to the point of my emergency puffer not working when I need it, which I haven't used in just as many years as I've not been on long term meds, I'll go back to a western doc.

I'll stick with my alternatives, thanks.

And that cyst...does it sound like this? That's my alien egg...plus I have a little one on the tendon between my thumb and wrist. I've been able to shrink them down by wearing a wrap (a brace is good, too...I just can't find any small enough), changing how I type, and icing it when the hand is too overexerted. They can be removed or drained, but usually they come back if you overwork said joint in the wrong way...I've read that they can come back four or more times, so I'm not bothering with it, especially since it can be treated at home.

...and yes, people think I'm an idiot for not going to the doc for the least little thing. They think I'll die some horrible death because I'm not afraid enough of What's Out There. They can think that all they want. I'm medication free, and healthier than the vast majority of those who go after me about it, and THAT is all that matters to me.

[Leonardo_Mystic]

I have wondered this very thing myself. I have no insurance because I can't afford a high plan on a fast food salary, and it's not worth it to purchase a plan I can afford because it covers almost nothing.  What is available to me? $40 co-pay per doctor visit, and hospital coverage paid after an initial $5,000-$10,000 on your part, and even then some procedures won't be covered.

I might as well have no insurance at all with that. That's sh*t. I don't understand why our government is not working at a solution to provide decent and affordable healthcare to low income people such as ourselves. I just have to hope and pray I don't ever get bad off enough that I need a doctor or a hospital.

[Raphael]

Ok, I obviously can't speak on the US health care system, since my knowledge of it comes from you folks online and a handful of people I know through work. And, funny thing is, I think there is a problem with the perception of health care in the US.

Case in point, a former coworker was diagnosed with breast cancer 2 years ago. Unfortunately, because our health care system is also far from perfect, she had to wait far too long to see the doctors she needed to see. During this time, she would complain that, if she was home in the US, she'd have been in and had things done by the time she got a preliminary diagnosis. She also said that EVERYONE in the US had health care. I said that I didn't think so and she disagreed. Either you were working in a good enough job that you were getting medical insurance through that, or you were poor enough that you qualified for Medicare (or Medicaid? It was something like that).  She was firmly of the opinion that those who could not afford health care could simply walk into clinics and all would be well.

I didn't think that was the case, but obviously couldn't argue the point. But, as I'm guessing it is not the case, what if she's not alone in her thinking. If a large number of people think that everyone is covered, who's going to try and fight for better health care?

She's also the one who was terribly worried about me when I'd done something (stupid, no doubt *G*) to a finger and it got a little infected. It was red, a teeny swollen...and she kept insisting I NEEDED to see a doctor immediately. I said that it wasn't that serious and would probably go away on its own in a few days if I just kept it clean, etc. Guess what?  Zero antibiotics later and my finger was fine.

[moronqueen]

(Be forwarned - this's turned into something of a rant )

Heh...it's really a lot more complicated than people standing up for better healthcare. There're so many politics involved, it's not even funny. A lot of the more liberally oriented groups are fighting for ways to provide better healthcare for people who can't afford it, and to be fair, there may be conservative groups doing the same thing as well, but since the people I'm surrounded with are more on the liberal side, that's more what I know about. Truth be told, the US is going right down the toilet, and will continue to do so until the people in charge start working with each other instead of against each other.

Both sides seem so much more motivated by money and greed, and unfortunately, that reflects very strongly on the populace. Unfortunately, the to major parties here have so many people brainwashed into unthinking belief, whatever more moderate independants there are get lost in the shuffle.

One of the potential presidential candidates has been working on a big new health care plan, and while it's still far from perfect, it's the best I've seen yet. There's too much government control involved in it for a lot of people, which is perfectly understandable, but it's better than the last draft, and it seems like it's on the right general path.

As it stands now, though, the majority of working people out there fall into that chasm between being able to afford healthcare, and being poor enough to qualify for state aid.

Beyond politics, there's just the whole philosophy of instant gratification and outright fear. The fear part, Raph, your example of your finger and your friend freaking out over it illustrates very well. As for instant gratification, there's a new pill out to help people quit smoking...I can't remember its name, but the commercials are on all over, and it blocks the nicotene receptors in the brain. It really hasn't been out long, but it's been getting rave reviews. People've quit smoking after like two weeks. That IS really VERY cool, but what are the long term effects?

No one knows yet...it hasn't been out long enough TO know. I don't know if clinical trials have been done on humans, and most times, how many of us will get to see them before the product is on the market, so how would we know what could or will happen to the people it's designed for? How does it effect the other parts of the body? It'll be interesting to find out...maybe that caution is all for nothing, but maybe we'll be seeing a sudden increase in cancer or mental illness amongst ex-smokers. Or maybe we'll just have perfectly healthy ex-smokers, and the drug will still be going strong, and actually be doing a great deal of good. Who knows?

I figure, if you're going to take a medication, it's best to get all the information about it that you can before starting in on it, or at least have someone close to you do it, if you're given to hypochontria.

And yes, the FDA did approve it, but the FDA has also approved allergy medications that can give you glucoma and cateracts, diet meds which caused stroke and heart attack, birth control whose dosages were so insanely high they've caused damage to countless women, hell there's even a med advertised that even has the disclaimer "We don't know exactly how this medication works". That's basically, take our word on it!

Right.

I guess my point is - just because something is new, and just because the FDA approved it doesn't mean it's completely healthy right out of the starting gates. Medication is a lot like technology in many ways. The first generation to hit the public will almost always have deep flaws - it takes a couple of tries to get it right. Unfortunately, anything we put in our bodies has an affect on our physical and mental well being in ways we often can't see at first, medication included.

Sometimes I really wish we could just go back to the witch doctors and home remedies. Though, y'know, the whole leach-craft and sedation by Hemlock thing didn't pan out so well, but hey, at least people who grew their food back then didn't pack it so full of antibotics, preservatives and steroids that even the simple act of grocery shopping wouldn't frustrate the hell outa someone doing their best to stay healthy for another couple of years...

Society, bah. I'm gonna go live in a van, DOWN BY THE RIVER.