can you trust your Doctor? No

[donsu]

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/07/08/health/main562131.shtml

Nearly one in three doctors reports withholding information from patients about useful medical services that aren't covered by their health insurance companies, and the number may be on the rise, a study reports.

-snip-

"Patients aren't getting the whole story," said Matthew K. Wynia, director of the Institute for Ethics at the American Medical Association and lead author of the article being published in the journal Health Affairs.

"Almost a third of physicians reported sometimes not offering useful services to patients because of health plan coverage restrictions," he told CBS Radio News.

-snip-

"My hunch is there's a beneficent sort of motivation behind this that says that physicians think why dangle a service in front of someone who's not going to be able to afford it and it's therefore not really a realistic option," Wynia said. "That, in essence, cuts the patient out of the decision making process.

-snip-

"It's simply not possible to discuss everything with every patient," she said. "You might go down your list of three or five top options but not discuss every last one."
--------------------------

Crass. what f*king Crass.

[DrGonzoLives]

1. What do you expect?

What do you expect when health insurance companies put so much pressure on them to do exactly that? Put the blame where it should go, the immoral for-profit health management companies.

[Az]

2. Corporate based health care is a horribly bad idea

As long as the corporate model is used as the basis for the medical industry it will serve corporations and not people. In fact if a group finds it is more profitable to screw the patient then they will become more succesful. THIS DOES NOT SERVE THE PEOPLE.

[LuCifer]

3. Doctor? What doctor??!!

That would require, uh, health insurance! YAY! I'm in the majority of Americans! Uninsured has it's benefits...like...uh...dying!

With how the frakin insurance turds have their peckers too deep into the pockets of most doctors, I'll stick with my book of home remedies...

Dr. Lu Cifer, not a real doctor (well, unless you count Witch Doctor!) but I play one on the 'net!

[havocmom]

4. Remember all the ads fighting government getting into providing care?

Remember how they (HMOs and insruance) harped on the threat that it would lead to 'rationing medical care'?

Those self serving same companies are now rationing care. Let's harp on that to the public.

[jarab]

5. There was a time

not so very long ago when the patient's simple question to his doctor, "Would you suggest this (procedure/med) for YOUR own mother?" would suffice.
The whole system is now so compromised that that question is no longer on the table. All the parties are guilty as hell - from the researchers to the consumer. Has been a major catastrophe for a long time. mho
...O...

[trof]

6. insurance/hospital story

A few years ago Mrs. t. went in for a full hysterectomy.
Her gynecologist's nurse called and said "The doctor has scheduled her for surgery at 8 o'clock, so she'll need to check into the hospital at 5."
In the freaking MORNING?
"Yes."
Well, Mrs. t. won't go to the mailbox without her "face" on, and it takes her about an hour to get ready to go out. So I'm calculating 1 hour to get ready, 45 minutes to get to the hospital, we'll have to get up at 3 a.m. to get her there on time. She usually doesn't go to bed till 10 or 11 and she'll be nervous anyway, so she MIGHT get an hour or two of sleep. Maybe.
I asked if the reason for the 0:dark:30 check in was time to do all the paperwork? Couldn't we go over today or tomorrow and take care of that?
"Partly, but she still has to be there at 5 for prep."
OK.
I was still working back then, and making a good salary. I suggested to Helen "Why we don't we go over the evening before and take care of all the paperwork and get you checked in and you can spend the night there and maybe get a little sleep? You can read and watch TV, and there'll be nice nurses to cater to your every whim. I'll be there at 5 the next morning and stay with you until it's time to wheel you out,". She liked the sound of that just fine.

I called the hospital to make the arrangements.
The woman I talked to said "But your insurance won't cover an extra night!".
She was aghast. It was as if I'd told her I'd decided to perform the surgery myself.
I told her I understood that, and that they could bill me directly or I'd even pay in advance.
She still seemed to be non-plused, but went along with my "crazy" plan.
See, insurance companies aren't about the care and comfort of the people who pay the premiums.
They're about the bottom line and paying out the barest minimum they can manage. Screw you and your well being.
Since they now dictate to doctors, the doctors are just as pissed off and frustrated as we are.

[sandnsea]

7. And get told you have to take responsibility for your medical care

That's the one that blows me away. It's all nice in theory, or if you have a chronic disease, but for emergency care, it stinks. My home burned down and my husband's legs burned and they kept him in the local hospital with no burn experts. I'm supposed to become an instant expert in burn treatment while figuring out where me and my kids are going to live and how we're going to pay our living expenses since he's not able to work. Right.

Plus, the HMO often has one 'expert' in your region and if that person disagrees with the health care provider, you're SOL. I know that from the health care provider end of it when we couldn't get in-patient alcohol treatment for clients because the regional 'expert' wanted to keep his job.

On edit:

And that was a BIG reason my husband quit that field. Fighting to get insurance companies to pay, not malpractice problems.