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Doctors overworked?

Question:

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – We do not have real medical insurance; what we have is prepaid medical care, so that the consumer of medical services has a highly distorted demand curve, and still it is only the tax laws which make this anti-insurance viable.  By setting up "insurance", the employer provides almost twice the benefits for the employee than if the money was provided in wages and the employee then bought the coverage. Insurance should be for rare events, not the commonplace. Covering the commonplace is costly, as lots of paperwork is involved. This is at least partially the fault of the HMO’s, which began on the premise if you take care of people while they’re WELL, they won’t get sick so often — health maintenance, after all.  I wonder if that’s actually worked out to be the case.   I wonder if studies have demonstrated that we’re healthier as a result of having easier access to doctors — more than that, a new way of thinking which sees medical care as a necessity even when you’re not really sick.

Wendy, I’d say no.  Mostly because I don’t think HMOs work as the concept intended.  You do *not* have easier access to doctors or other health professionals.  In many cases you have *less* access than what was intended in the original concept. Studies on this would be instructive. Jude —                  - Coming Soon –  BestOrgs.NET         Oak Park, IL  708-848-0134  URL: http://www.pobox.com/~jcrouch

Response:

This is at least partially the fault of the HMO’s, which began on the premise if you take care of people while they’re WELL, they won’t get sick so often — health maintenance, after all.  I wonder if that’s actually worked out to be the case.   I wonder if studies have demonstrated that we’re healthier as a result of having easier access to doctors —

We have had free access to doctors for all in the UK since 1945 so it is difficult to assess whether we would be worse off without it. I think the nation would be much less healthy. The last Conservative government ended free eye tests and free dental checks a few years ago. We know that dental health has deteriorated and far fewer people are visiting their dentist now, especially since NHS subsidised dental work is hard to find. Your eyes don’t deteriorate if you don’t wear glasses but optiticians also check eyes for glaucoma, cataracts and other problems. The sooner these conditions are detected the better. As yet they only suspect that there is a deterioration but then people who don’t normally wear glasses dont realise they need regular checks over a certain age too. There needs to be more education there. (men over 65 and women over 60 still get free eye checks). As a matter of interest do you have free screening and immunisation services in the USA?  (by free I mean free at point of issue of course) Thus: In the UK all women get a letter every five years suggesting they have a vaginal smear and of course if you suspect you have breast cancer or any other problem your doctor will arrange tests (you can also telephone NHS direct and speak to a nurse of you have any concerns). We have something called mass X-Rays. They visit an area with  mobile equpment and post adverts inviting people in for chest X-Rays and mammegrams. You just walk in and they do it.  A lot of lung cancer problems have been detected that way. They used to visit large factories and workers get enough time off to go. On our estate my wife runs a monthly baby clinic in the  local sports centre. Notices are all around the estate so mums (and dads!) know they can pop in to get baby weighed and have a chat about any concerns they might have. They get hearing test sight  tests and so on. Immunisations  are also free (unless you want special ones to visit a foreign country).  just recently Dorothy was in schools giving kids meningitis jabs. (Not so much because the authorities thought it necessary but because parents are demanding them) We certainly  would be much worse off  without giving our  kids the usual set of jabs. You surely must have those in your schools as a public service? — Les Hellawell Yorkshire –  White Rose County In the heart of Great Britain

Response:

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Regarding waste/overcharging: I received a FastTake via BC/BS under their durable medical goods program. It cost them $147.50 to purchase it. Talk about ripping off insurance companies! I’m a bit confused as to why you even went through BC/BS for the meter…why not just do one of the free offers?  I maintain that it is the patient’s responsibility to do what they can to be sure that their insurance company’s money isn’t squandered.  On the other hand, it may be that the contract with BC/BS is part of what allows LifeScan to make the free offers.

Why would you be confused?? I’ve never seen a free offer for a FastTake around here, and that’s the meter I wanted. If I wanted another type of meter perhaps I would have gone for it. Maintain what you want; the FastTake is the meter of choice for me. I did just get another free FastTake from the person who posted here offering free meters that many accused  of spamming. Their loss, my gain. The contractor is a private entity with nothing to do with Lifescan other than make profit from it’s products. They just happen to have the exclusive contract with BC/BS for durable medical products. — Dave — Sunday, June 18, 2000 t2 8/98 Glucophage & Aspartame ICQ 10312009

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