The Myth that we can choose our own Doctors in our present Health Care System

[OHdem10]

I get so tired of hearing Republicans say we can choose our own
Doctors.

If you are very rich and have Celebrity Status such as TV Pundits.--
yes, you do.

The way the Insurance System is set up with various levels of HMOs
PPOs an Others--questionable.

Yes, you can select Doctors from the plan for which you are suscribed.
However, if you are on Medicare you are further limited because
many Doctors do not accept Medicare Patients. So far, your choices
have now twice been limited. Many of those Doctors who do accept
patients who use Medicare as part of their plan, limit the treatments
because if they prescribe too much the Insurance Company will punish
the Doctor. The Less they Prescribe, the more the Doctor will be paid.

[truedelphi]

1. Kaiser let us choose our own docotrs.

M's didn't think of offering a blood glucose test in his $ 3,000 worth of testing - that meant M ended up being diabetic for two long months while the hospital told him "he was stressed" (Well blood sugar levels of 500 are indeed stressful.)

My doctor was great - but it was impossible to get in to see her for a good six weeks. Really made me wonder why we had to pay almost $ 1,000 a month for this crap.

[Greyhound]

9. I knew a Kaiser Doc in 1998 and the stories he told were frightening.

He has just finished his residency and had to take the job offered (his loan payments were over $1000 a month and this was in LA so he didn't have the luxury of waiting for a good offer).

He worked in the Hollywood center, and was scheduled for 4 12 hour shifts every week (which are really closer to 15 hours because there is always a backlog of paperwork, they counted the minutes he spent with each patient and wrote him up when he spent to much time with one, he was directed to always prescribe meds and get patients out the door the first time they came in (forcing them to reschedule weeks in advance and hopefully be forced into an emergency room, or better yet die, in the meantime), send too many patients to see a specialist = another write up, order to many test from a list of high cost procedures = another write up, etc.

Thankfully he did get a call from another center he had applied to previously and only had to endure this for about 8 months.

I know I want to put my health care put into the hands of a doctor that is treated like this, the very model of corporate health care.

[DavidDvorkin]

2. Closely related to the myth that we don't have bureaucrats getting in the way

and dictating what care we're entitled to.

Private enterprise bureaucrats are no better than government ones and have far less oversight.

[havocmom]

3. Yep. We have RATIONED medicine

and the bean counters are the ones doing the rationing.

[rurallib]

8. Amen - finally had a chance to confront Chuck Grassley with that

And Chuck is a very big player in the health care debate. I doubt I popped his bubble, but I tried.

[truedelphi]

12. Details please. I love hearing when one of ours gets

OUt there and hammers one of theirs.

[rurallib]

15. It was a call in radio show. I asked about a response he gave at a

town hall meeting concerning "rationing" of health care and how "americans don't want that." I reminded him that we currently have rationing by economic status and nearly 100 million americans are currently rationed. He actually agreed to start but then went into his 'no Canadian style system' diatribe. I was not allowed to respond in any way. I at least pierced his armor a bit though.

[bertman]

7. True. Except the ones at the TOP of the private, for-profit bureaucracy get a LOT more pay.

[sandnsea]

4. I have to get permission to change doctors

It has to go through a board at my local clinic. If you ask for a new doctor too many times, they put you on a black list and you can't see a doctor anywhere in the immediate area.

I was "encouraged" to choose the doctor I have now, she was new so she was the one taking patients when my last doctor moved away. I like her as a person, she knows how to order tests really well, but not so good at doing anything with the tests once they come back. Thank god for the internet.

[Pavulon]

5. Almost all corporate plans

allow you to choose your doctor. PPOs have large numbers and many different practices.

Never had that problem. I am happy with any plan that does not wreck the plan I pay for.

[truedelphi]

13. The situation that we have now will most likely wreck the plan you are paying for

Just wait until you are in your fifties and suddenly are without any means to be insured.

Even when I was in my late forties, no insurer wanted me. No matter how much I was willing to pay. And when I was in my forties, I was rather healthy and fit. But those nasty "pre-existing conditions"

[Pavulon]

14. Rules vary by state

there are creative ways to be covered here. Group insurance is regulated and covers preexisting conditions under some circumstances (continuous coverage). Qualifying for that is not impossible.

[Johonny]

16. many PPO have limits

there is one rate for doctors that accept that insurance and 1 for those off plan. IF you can't afford the off plan fees then you are limited in choice. Also for a specialist they may require you to get a referral. Which means seeing your doctor and then seeing a second doctor. All of which takes time. Forget about getting good care on a weekend too. If you have an emergency you basically get whoever is at the ER wheel at the time.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

6. You are so right

My doctor practices "integrative medicine" which means she uses all forms of healing that might help a patient, including energy work and supplements and chelation and IVs, to name a few. One of the big insurance companies took her off their provider list because she insisted that a person exhibiting all the signs of hypothyroidism have another thyroid test within a year. If you are off a provider list, then some insurances won't pay, and the person is stuck with the fee. I think it says a lot for Doc that most of her patients would rather pay her fees outright and get her quality of care than go elsewhere.

And I do have a question about doctor's fees--the most Doc ever charges is $200 for a two hour session, one on one, with a new patient. Most of her office visits are half and hour or so and run from between $32 and %67. Is this expensive? I don't have insurance and always pay out of pocket, and I didn't think this was out of line, especially since you have Doc's full attention for the entire time you are with her. None of this running in and out and sort of looking at the patient for maybe five minutes.

[Horse with no Name]

10. Our Doctors in this area

When you call and ask if they are accepting new patients...tell you that there is a waiting list.
Ask your name, phone number, medical problems and insurance company.
Then, if they deem you satisfactory, will call back and agree to accept you as a patient.

[glarius]

11. This is the lie they use to scare you off the Canadian "socialist" system.

The opponents of universal health care in the USA have over and over said that we in Canada cannot choose our own doctors....a lie...I have twice changed doctors. They also say the hospitals are run by the government. Another lie. The doctors and hospitals make their own decisions....and EVERYONE has the same access to specialists. (Another lie I have heard...insinuating that the wealthy get special treatment)... What the government does is pay the bills! What should convince Americans that we are operating under a good system is the fact that in the latest poll I know of....the people of Canada voted 93% to keep our system. You good people in the USA deserve what all the other democratic countries in the world have. Good Luck!
Our system is not perfect, but NOBODY goes broke paying for medical bills.