What kills people are doctors refusing to see patients unless they have health insurance.

Why are Doctors not condemned for their inhuman practices? Why can't a person simply go to the doctor and pay a decent amount, say $50 bucks, for a quick 15 min consultation?

What other profession demands that you have something before you can use their services? Most other businesses accept customers without preconditions.

for the deductible or for medications if prescribed.
If I go to a doctor, I had best be really sick. My deductible is so high...........
and even if pills were prescribed, i doubt I could afford them. So why even fucking go?

Someone told me that they saved a bundle by choosing instead of a full coverage plan, a high deductible plan instead, socking away the extra into a medical savings account. But here is the kicker...if she promises to pay the doctor cash she gets to pay a lot less. She can't do it through a reimbursement though because the discount is partially due to their not having to do all the crappy paperwork.

But she gets in the door thanks to her high deductible plan. That should not be a prerequisite.

less plan. I have blue cross and only pay $20 for doctor visit so i don't know much about the plan but I have heard of it. my small town has a few different things they do. one is once a week in the evening they have a free clinic for poor folks for small visits and doctors and nurses donate their time and take turns.

If all communities did something like mine it would be less of a problem.

My doctor can look down my throat and listen to my heartbeat for 15 minutes everyday. That won't help me if I have a heart blockage or cancer or diabetes or HIV or a manageable form of hepatitis or what have you.

What is killing the most people is not being able to get surgeries or chemotherapy/radiation treatments or medication. Those things ultimately are very expensive and they have to be paid for somehow.

Or Bernie Sanders clinics?

Something like cancer, yes. But certain ailments can be helped by drugs that are cheaper to get if the Doctor isn't brainwashed by the drug reps into prescribing the latest and greatest newly patented drug. Those payments ought to be less than the amount we are paying for medical insurance.

Certain types of heart disease can be managed by drugs. But a lot also require surgery. Treatable/cureable cancer almost always requires treatment that goes beyond medication you can take at home. There are a few exceptions such as certain types of leukemia.

I'm not saying that better access to simple sickness/wellness needs is irrelevant. And the cost of drugs definately needs to be more heavily addressed. But overall, I don't think you can fairly place the blame on doctors in general. Many, many doctors would love to have a single payer system.

that includes *ongoing* primary care.

Resources, labor, education to train labor, and equipment for production and distribution of treatment.

if you are going to make that argument, then you can't allow schools to cut admissions for doctors to keep the supply down or for worse reasons. You also can not argue against public works projects that would build schools and hospitals.

You also can not argue those items when some make millions a year.


It is an argument only possible because the alternative is less profit for some.


I posted years ago that not everyone could get million dollar care, but what is the argument that the rich should get that first. Having money is an arbitrary way to rate a group. It can be used in some situations, but concepts of all of society paying for those things is best, and if there is not the money to pay at current cost, then expand the infrastructure to make it cheaper.


You could argue the medical care is needed overseas more, but then none of the expensive care, even if someone is rich should be provided for anyone in the USA, if it takes up that much money. I don't make that argument but they can't either. Or I understand how having more money makes some of that stuff possible, but with a money goal, money has many effects, but there should be a compensating effect in society to help with those with less that would be inexpensive, to help with a better distribution model.

Should the rich be cured first because they have money? Why? because it is a bit easier as an arbitrary way to set up some worth value, but fails when it does not measure a persons worth in broken systems where much money can be made from no work, or others work. Also intelligence is a component that can help making money, as can lack of empathy, so it is dangerous for society if you make the argument of societal planning for rich to have preferential treatment. Although I don't believe in that kind of social planning, many do and make that argument backwards.

I'm just saying that doctors charging money up front for simple consultations is not what is really killing people. Its the cost of all the things that doctor may prescribe or recommend, thats where the problem is.

High end treatments and long term disease management are expensive. Some of that expense is justified (because some treatments and procedures are just expensive to facilitate by nature), some of it is not (such as charging way more for medication than it cost to make).

Most major diagnosis require expensive work-ups and not a simple physical exam and the treatment options are out of the question for someone without wealth or major insurance. We are killing our own people with this system. AND, the RETHUGS are going to halt any medical related bankruptcies.

I've never had a doctor refuse to see me because I don't have insurance. As long as I pay before I leave, it's never been a problem. I suppose it would be different if I had a serious illness, though.

Be able to take them even if our plan covered out of network doctors.

That is with medical insurance.

I have been told in the past that a doctor wasn't taking new patients. That was when my doc was out of town and I needed to get some stitches.

But what is all the fuss about then if people can see any doctor they choose to?

It should have included "plenty of cash" too.

Around here the walk in clinic runs about 120.00 for a visit.

Julie

Many of them take uninsured patients and will put you on a payment plan. There was also a 50% discount card available for me because of my income level. It's not nearly as good as full coverage but it does let me see a doctor when I need one.

Would you not only work without pay but pay money to work? Tests cost money

S/he will need to perform tests and send out your body fluids to labs for testing. Without taking these measures, you can later sue that doctor for malpractice for not catching a serious disorder.

and charge for every phone call, email, letter or other correspondence, etc... those damnable billable hours. And THEY get every penny.

Yes, the fee for service days of medical practice were good and that is why some MDs are independently returning to them. But medical education today is ridiculously expensive ($100,000-200,000) on top of college expenses, and then there are malpractice insurance expenses which can cost a small fortune depending on the specialty. So most MDs start their careers in serious debt and hence become indentured servants to insurances and businessmen :puke: who demand to know how they will be paid. After all, your MD only gets a fraction of what the billing office charges. Moreover, many MDs are hamstrung by what the insurance bastards will cover and hence game the system to try to provide care in spite of the insurers! It's absurd and it all started with the takeover of medicine by corporate interests, notably in the 70s when I was in med school that thing known as managed care by for profit insurance companies.

Unless you live in a very small town, how many single shingle physician practices do you encounter today? Doctors work for companies, corporate owned hospitals, professional groups, etc. They no longer call the shots (no pun intended) and the AMA is worthless. I work in academia and the physician websites (analogous to DU for docs) I visit are filled with stories of disgust, burnout and even abandonment of the profession.

That should be against the law.

The precondition is you will pay for your goods or services. Try leaving a grocery store with goods and not paying for them.

If you think they are wrong, why don't you study to be a doctor and donate your time?

They're not all rich. Not even specialists, especially those who have a lot of medicare and medicaid patients. The government usually under reimburses the costs of treatment. So doctors and hospitals charge the rest of us more.


Obama's health care reform act actually quashed competition from doctor owned small hospitals in favor of the huge hospital corporations like tenet and Kaiser. Read up on it.