Drive-thru healthcare
Yesterday was my third appointment with an ophthalmologist for a recurring sty on the inside of my right eyelid. The first three times this occurred, I went to my primary physician who gave me some drops. The drops always took care of the sty in about a week or so. On my last visit, my primary physician suggested I see an ophthalmologist to try to solve the problem for good. The ophthalmologist told me I would probably have to wash my eyelids twice a day forever. She gave me an ointment to get rid of the thing, and I was gone. A few weeks went by with no change. My second appointment with her was fruitless. She basically said to keep doing it and the sty would go away. I’ve been sticking to this routine for about two months now, and I made my third appointment with a different doctor. He asked if it had improved. I told him it had improved since my very first visit but not in a long time. I also told him my vision is seriously impaired in my right eye where it was not before this. He also told me to just keep doing what I was doing.
My entire appointment was about 10 minutes of him discounting my (still persisting) symptoms and insisting no further action needed to be taken. I’m sitting here with a $175 bill being what my insurance wouldn’t pay of the first visit and absolutely no solution to my problem. I don’t have any connections for getting a good ophthalmologist and there are scarcely any resources to help distinguish the good from the bad. I could just try every one in Knoxville until I find the best one, but this seems like an expensive proposition—both in terms of actual cost and the possible health implications.
What motivation do these people have to help me? They are getting paid ridiculous amounts of money if they even take the time to see me. They don’t have to perform any kind of service whatsoever. Why would they? This douchebag is taking me to the bank without doing a damn thing. He doesn’t get anything more for fixing my problem except maybe some kickbacks and dinner from a drug company if he sells me on their wonder-meds.
This is just one of many aspects of our poisonous society I’m sick of. Besides giving everyone access to this system, couldn’t a universal healthcare system impose some type of standards on these people besides having the right amount of money or the right connections or maybe just sucking the right dicks to get through med school? I mean, I know that wouldn’t be the only way to have tougher standards, but…
I would think the Internet would have filled in this gap. Ratemds.com (which is the only free resource I can find with anything in the Knoxville area) has six ophthalmologists rated in town. Of those, three have positive reviews—one review each. Of those, I know one is a retina specialist and cannot help me. I haven’t even tried the other two. I’m sick of playing the lottery with my eyes.
So, what am I doing about it? I’m seeing my optometrist. He may not have quite as fancy a title, but at least he gives a shit.
Did you see the Bunk study stating 2/3 of doctors in America want National Health Care. The doctors who did this study also conducted one in 2002 and found that the majority of doctors did not want national health care, the problem with this is that the 2 question surveys drastically differ in there 2nd question. I found this article, 60% of Physicians Surveyed Oppose Switching to a National Health Care Plan, It’s worth a read.
I did hear about the study but had not read the article you linked. It seems to me the distinctions the author makes are immaterial to the fact. I would guess most physicians surveyed probably understood that “legislation to establish national health insurance” as it was stated in the question would, in fact, entail a “switch” as was stated in the Reuters report from our current system. The change of the second question from “Do you support or oppose a national health insurance plan where all health care is paid for by the federal government?” to “Do you support achieving universal coverage through more incremental reform?” also seems totally immaterial to the claim made in the report since the answer to the first question deals directly with the fact stated in the report. The response to either the new or the old question would not affect the claim that “More than half of U.S. doctors now favor switching to a national health care plan.” The article is also riddled with ad hominem attacks that seem to show a particular bias.
Thanks for the reply. The article you linked was at least entertaining.