Consumers Curb Medical Treatment to Save Money

[babylonsister]

Consumers Curb Medical Treatment to Save Money

by John Dorschner


More heart attacks, fewer breast implants. More ER visits, fewer trips to the doctor's office. More aspirin, fewer echocardiograms. And many people are afraid to miss work for healthcare because they fear it might cost them their jobs.


A doctor walks through a mock graveyard at a rally against health care cuts in February 2009 in San Francisco. (AFP/Getty Images/File/Justin Sullivan)

That's the anecdotal evidence from several dozen healthcare providers in South Florida about how the deepening recession is effecting treatment.

While it has been well-publicized that many people are losing health insurance when they lose their jobs, doctors and hospital leaders have been surprised about how many who still have coverage are scrimping on care because they can't afford the co-pays or time away from work.

Take South Dade Realtor J. Berry Hamilton, 57. She's gone to a policy with a $5,000 deductible, meaning she has to pay most costs out of her own pocket. Recently, she brushed off her doctor's request for a diagnostic exam when she got a sinus infection. As her business has declined, she figures: ``Let me see if the antibiotic works first, and if it doesn't then maybe I'll have the X-ray.''

''Patients are spending less, no question about it,'' says Bernd Wollschlaeger, a primary care doctor in North Miami Beach. ``A patient needs a echocardiogram. And they say they can't afford the $100 or $200 co-payment, so they're deferring. In the long run, this just can't be good for healthcare.''

more...

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/03/09-9

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. More antecdotal evidence here

We are a non-profit health education foundation, and we don't charge outrageously for office visits and allow patients to pay them out (all we ask is for at least $5 a month payment-and we waive that at times-read on). But we have had patients call in and cancel visits because they don't have the money.

The other thing we are noticing are more and more folks who have no funds. Some are living in their cars. We have donated the office visits for them, and have paid for needed labs out of our Laboratory Assistance Grant fund. Sadly, we can only do so much, as that fund is getting depleted as we see more and more folks who are really in need. If anyone has a fresh fundraising idea for the spring, please let me know.

[pinto]

4. What's helped in our county is the establishment of a community fund that

funnels endowments annually to local non-profit providers. It was, from what I know of the history, a big undertaking and required some significant contributions to become viable, though. That, in addition to annual United Way grants and individual fundraisers help keep a lot of non-profits afloat.

Not sure where you are located, but even as in for-profit business circles, *networking* is a key these days to non-profit survival.

Hang in there. :thumbsup:

[pinto]

2. Public Health in many counties in CA is undergoing a "privatization" frenzy.

Under the aegis of providing equivalent services at less cost. Our county closed the public hospital a while back, has contracted outpatient clinic services to a local private provider and scaled back traditional public health operations. The results have been "mixed", is the official understatement, and the issue remains a subject of debate.

Public Health, especially in smaller CA counties, is not, nor will likely be again, what it once was. That's a reality.

[T Wolf]

3. Hey - didn't your hear? Health care is a privilege and only those deserving of it will

receive it.

We can't go wasting our precious capital taking care of all those worthless bums who think that they should get it simply because they are alive.

[Tracer]

5. My doctor has said the same thing.

We have a great rapport and can speak freely to each other. He has said that some of his patients are skipping appointments because of the cost (no matter how small a co-pay it may be) and he worries about them a lot.

He also believes that the whole health "care" system will come crashing down unless something is done and done real soon. (He is a Dem and is all for single-payer).