Recent comments

Anna, You have got to be kidding! You actually believe that physicians are paid a bonus by the insurance company? In reality, they repeatedly spend hours of their time, without a mechanism to charge for this time, trying to get the insurance companies to pay for what their patients truly need, whether it be a non-formulary drugs that seems to work better for a patient, because of his individual needs, some "equipment" that the patient needs, such as an insulin pump, or for a test that is needed to make a diagnosis...but that the insurance company is refusing to pay for! In addition, the physician's office has to spend time submitting their claim for the patient's bill, often multiple times, to these same companies... in hopes of receiving a fraction of their charge for seeing the patient in their office. These are the same physicians who give of their time in free or reduced fee clinics for the uninsured, and when there is a true need, the specialists see many of these patients in their offices, free of charge. I am sorry that you had such a negative experience, but from my perspective as a nurse, while it may be easy to blame the physicians, you are blaming the only people who could even potentially help you, while failing to see that they too are vicitims of the insurance company abuses!! The problem is that in order to even make a living, your primary care physician is having to see so many patients that he or she cannot even begin to worry about the details of tests ordered by specialists, when he may not even be aware of what these test results are! ANY patient must be an advocate for himself! If you were aware of some "positive test results" as you mentioned, why on earth were you not asking the specialist who ordered the test what should be done with the results, or asking your primary care physician to call the specialist he sent you to for follow up on any tests, and possible treatment options? I must tell you that I often see patients who do not want to go in to see their doctor to discuss any possible treatment options... because they do not want to pay their $15 co-pay!! Health care abuse works both ways!! All of our society needs to be grateful to have access to well trained physicians, who are capable and willing to help! That is what will change if we have "socialized medicine." In that scenario, you would never have been able to see specialists in the first place (most will be eliminated over time) and you would just have to live with the problems you have as best as you could. Perhaps if you have enough money you might still be able to access some well trained specialists in another country... but I'm not sure where that would be. Instead of railing against the actual health care providers (physicians, who do not make any exhorbatant income for the number of hours they put in) ... I suggest that we need to be grateful that we have access to these well trained professionals... and to instead complain loudly about the HUGE profits made by the drug companies, the insurance companies, and also the many companies that provide all types of health care services to the public, from physical therapy services to durable medical equipment. Also, NONE of these companies should be allowed to call any advertising or lobbying costs and expenses, an "expense" for tax deduction purposes!! To me, we as a nation are in grave danger of "throwing the baby out with the bath water!" The well trained health care providers that we have access to need to be both appreciated and to be fairly compensated for their time and the expenses involved in running their practices, which are mainly due to government and insurance regulations. When we speak of health care as a right... we are most un-informed. Health care in no more a "right" than is food, a home, or clothes! Nurses, physicians and other heath care providers have a genuine desire to help people, but they invest a great deal of money in obtaining their education, and many years of their time in training. In order to keep a "supply" of these trained professionals, they must be fairly compensated... or the supply will being to "dry up," as it already has in many medical specialties. We as a nation have an obligation to provide "public health" only as a means to control illnesses, such as tuberculosis, from spreading to all the population... and that care does not have to be provided by a nurse or a physician! In fact, to me, this is what the current House plan looks like it is modeling, with many data collectors being trained, and the designing of redundant information systems (as Nabi from Canada spoke of in this blog on 7/07.) What a waste of our health care dollars this would be!!! Pat P. MSN, RN