After seeing Sicko, I realize I HAVE to go to the doctor

I got my "free" company physical last spring. I mentioned to the doctor that sometimes I felt kind of a fluttering feeling in my chest, and when he gave a listen, he said since he was paying extra close attention, he "thought" he heard a "slight" murmer. So he recommended I go see a cardiologist.

Well, the fluttering went away, so I put off going because my SO has been out of work and money has been ultra tight and I just can't afford the co-pay right now.

Now I realize I HAVE to go, because if down the road I really end up having some kind of issue with my heart, my company medical dept has a file on me an inch thick (I've been here 20+ years) and they could easily say I didn't take care of the problem when I should have.

Not only that - but the company OBGYN annually tells me to go have an ultra sound because she says I have an irregular uterus. I've gone 2x and it's always the same - I'm fine, there's no problem. Now I have to go get a damn ultra sound too.

I guess I'm lucky I have access to people who tell me to go have these things done, but it just didn't seem that urgent for me to go into debt right now.

Now that I've seen Sicko - I realize it is that urgent.

disease will make you ineligible to purchase your own insurance down the road. That's what I've faced for 20 years now, along with companies that won't hire me on staff but are eager for my work as an independent and schedule me full time. The irony is that I recently retired as an RN.

These are examples of why the system is broken and why sticking bandaids on it simply will not work. We need single payer, and we need it NOW.

As for the fluttering you feel, it can be normal as we age and our hearts throw out more irregular beats than they used to. Some people feel them, some don't. It can also be a sign of something worse down the line, so please get it checked out now.

She said that sometimes it would keep her awake at night, so her scheduled a series of test (she's retired military, so she's fully covered. After several weeks of doctor visits and tests, the fluttering turned out to be nothing---or at least normal for her. She's 68, BTW. But it is a good idea to get it checked out.

The lesson of Sicko is that you never want to go to the doctor until you absolutely have to. Keep your problems to yourself. If you mention some little problem just once, it will be on your record. Years later, when the problem becomes serious, some insurance bureaucrat will sieve through your records and discover that you mentioned the problem to your doctor 15 years ago. And, voila, you have a pre-existing condition that your new insurance company doesn't have to pay for.

You can only afford to complain to your doctor about problems in a timely fashion if you are pretty sure you will never have to change to a new insurance company or buy insurance independently and not through a group plan. When I started buying insurance independently, I had a shock. The insurance companies did not want to insure me at all and finally offered coverage only for an inflated premium due to pre-existing conditions. Trust me, by the time you are in your late 50s or early 60s, they can probably find a couple of things in your record that make you uninsurable. It is a scam. You have to get defensive medical care -- tell your doctor as little as you possibly can. Remember the woman in the movie who had a yeast infection? That's for real. Common ailments can make you uninsurable -- even if already treated and under control.

Now that there are notations, she MUST follow thru.

And I work for an insurance company.

:scared:

He underwent a sleep study and they found he had a slight case of apnea. Years later he was working as a contractor and nobody would give him disability insurance because of the apnea.

you have a heart murmur.