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As long as I have any choice, I will not use PA or NPs. My experience is that try to practice beyond their training and are too one dimensional. I have used Special Forces medics when I had no choice in Viet Nam but not now, not ever unless I have no other choice. And yes, had an experience last year with a PA who diagnosed, prescribed a drug which I did not take until I could see the doc later. Turns out, the doc found my problem which was a long, long way from what the PA said. No thanks. Will go with the guy who spent 15 to 20 years studying his subject and has to be board certified via continuing education.
I'll take a PA or NP any day over a Dr.
They usually have MUCH MORE experience.... And I've noticed ate far less likely to treat you as something other than a human being.
One. Misdiagnosis is hardly grounds for your opinion....
And why doctors keep you waiting (other than the few emergencies) is simply: they think their time is more important than your time... And know enough people will wait rather than call them on it!
That said... Be GLAD you don't have socialized medicine (YET) I've quite literally waited 2 entire DAYS at the VA before!!!
They usually have MUCH MORE experience.... And I've noticed ate far less likely to treat you as something other than a human being.
One. Misdiagnosis is hardly grounds for your opinion....
And why doctors keep you waiting (other than the few emergencies) is simply: they think their time is more important than your time... And know enough people will wait rather than call them on it!
That said... Be GLAD you don't have socialized medicine (YET) I've quite literally waited 2 entire DAYS at the VA before!!!
I have "socialised" medicine and as I said already in the thread, I feel so lucky compared to the people here because I don't have long waits (quite probably because there's less overbooking as if you miss your appointment without good cause then you have to pay double the amount of the appointment cost and of course no profit motive in overbooking). Maybe your VA isn't so good but "socialised" medicine doesn't necessarily equal long waits.
Very unfortunate. I blame the insurance companies for ruining health care and making it cost so damn much. They are nothing more than middle men skimming money off the top and wasting money on needless snail mail. Why much my insurance send me a report that is NOT A BILL via Snail Mail? Why must we have medical insurance companies. They are not in the health-care business, they are in the business of theft, as I see it.
I blame the heavy regulation of insurance companies. Here in Massachusetts, the regulations are crazy. Insurers must cover all sorts of conditions including infertility, psychological, etc. They can't raise rates even though medical billings are skyrocketing. There are only 2 or 3 insurers left in the state; the rest have pulled out because it was unprofitable. I used to get a cheap plan through professional associations back in the 90s, but after Romneycare those plans were all gone and it's exorbitant.
When we lived in Arizona I was able to cover my family for $330/month on a high deductible plan with free wellness visits and it was a pretty good plan. There were dozens of companies competing in that market. Now ObamaCare has shut down a lot of those cheap alternatives and now the whole dam n country is going to look like Massachusetts.
Insurance is not an entitlement; it's a product that businesses sell to make a profit. If you think they're evil for making a profit, well, welcome to Stalinist Russia and I hope you enjoy the poverty. Me, I'd rather have a free market system which in the long run is better for the working people.
I blame the heavy regulation of insurance companies. Here in Massachusetts, the regulations are crazy. Insurers must cover all sorts of conditions including infertility, psychological, etc. They can't raise rates even though medical billings are skyrocketing. There are only 2 or 3 insurers left in the state; the rest have pulled out because it was unprofitable. I used to get a cheap plan through professional associations back in the 90s, but after Romneycare those plans were all gone and it's exorbitant.
When we lived in Arizona I was able to cover my family for $330/month on a high deductible plan with free wellness visits and it was a pretty good plan. There were dozens of companies competing in that market. Now ObamaCare has shut down a lot of those cheap alternatives and now the whole dam n country is going to look like Massachusetts.
Insurance is not an entitlement; it's a product that businesses sell to make a profit. If you think they're evil for making a profit, well, welcome to Stalinist Russia and I hope you enjoy the poverty. Me, I'd rather have a free market system which in the long run is better for the working people.
I can sit here like a parrot and chirp "free market" all day long. It doesn't make the system we had/have before the ACA a free market in any real sense of the word. I've repeatedly pointed out in different posts why the free market works poorly in the health care field. None of the opponents of the ACA ever really respond to what I say.
To summarize, the free market is never going to work effectively in health care to meet our needs because it lacks characteristics like a large number of buyers and sellers, the information available about the product has often not been there to make a real comparison, health care decisions are almost always made on an emergency basis, sellers succeed in differentiating their product from other similar ones, and there are very high entry barriers for those attempting to enter the market as sellers. This is basic micro-economic theory and it shocks me how many people don't even consider this when they talk about markets for goods and services.
The next error we make when we talk about health care is assuming that it has to be "insurance-based". Some of the better systems in this world have eliminated private health insurance from the equation completely. In Britain, people go to the NHS for their care and there are never any bills submitted to either insurance or individuals. They system is paid for by taxes. In Canada, the country has insurance that is provided by the government. Its just like the Medicare we have (in fact in Canada its called Medicare too) except it covers all citizens and not just the elderly population.
The alleged "free market" that is supposed to exist in the USA for medical care works pretty badly for those suffering with chronic illnesses and diseases. People who have those generally had a much different view of things, than your rose colored view. Insurance plans like the one you described are being dropped because its like buying insurance that isn't really insurance at all. If it doesn't cover anything, its not insurance. I question whether there is any loss to our system at all when such plans go away. Finally, please stop making silly and irrelevant comparisons to "Stalinist Russia". You must think that people who live in all the other industrialized countries in this world and have universal health care live in the equivalent of "Stalinist Russia". I'm afraid the USA is alone in the sense that we have been the last country to try and adopt UHI. The times are a changing. Even if the ACA is at some point rolled back, people in this country are not going to accept going back to "the way things were". You'd best accept that fact.
Reading comprehension seems to be a bit of a problem here.
Yes, works 6 days (and much longer than 8 hours a day), is paid for 5. No one said they're poor and oppressed. The point is that they're unappreciated, under paid for the number of hours they actually work, and increasingly disgruntled with the whole profession. That's a problem for everyone because when docs start leaving the profession, which they are doing, we are all affected.
Let me just disabuse you of several things. There are many on salary who work the equivalent of an extra day each week but are paid for five. The same complaints are made in my last profession. Similarly, there are widespread declarations and hand-wringing about good people leaving that profession. There are constant complaints of "burnout." It's remarkable. Growing up in dairy farm country, I never once heard a dairy farmer complain of "burnout" or how underappreciated he is. Mind you, these are guys who get up at 4 AM to milk the cows, work the field during daylight and then go back to milk the cows again at 8 or 9 PM. Seven days a week, with their livelihoods largely dependent on mother nature. Amazing, isn't it, that we don't have an epidemic of underappreciated, overworked dairy farmers "burning out" and "leaving the profession?" No, the people in professional jobs who tend to complain about "burnout" and being underappreciated are females (and some males) who came from middle, upper middle and upper class backgrounds. Not difficult to understand where this comes from.
I have a stepfather who is a doctor and another doc in the family. The assertion that docs are "underpaid" is among the most ludicrous propositions ever advanced on these forums, and keep in mind the lion's share of my time here is spent on the Politics Forum. What many docs are paid is borderline obscene. On top of it, they are generally placed on pedestals and not held to the same standards we would hold any other business operator to whom we pay hundreds or thousands of our dollars. So twisted is the situation, that most patients leave thanking the doctor for giving him/her our business! Let me repeat that so it sinks in: The doctor is not doing us a service, any more than a lawyer is doing us a service by taking our case. We are the customers. We are how doctors stay in business. The day more Americans grasp this is the day our health care system improves by leaps and bounds. So upside down is our mentality that when we speak of our broken health care system, virtually no one turns a critical eye to the docs. Private health insurers, pharmaceuticals, sure. The docs? Of course not. We have a thread where a customer sits for an hour with no one from the business explaining why, and we have some lily-livered apologists lecturing the customer what impatient, ungrateful louts they are for expecting better service? Remarkable, simply remarkable.
Let me just disabuse you of several things. [blah blah blah]. We have a thread where a customer sits for an hour with no one from the business explaining why, and we have some lily-livered apologists lecturing the customer what impatient, ungrateful louts they are for expecting better service? Remarkable, simply remarkable.
Frankly, you have no clue about the medical profession or the sacrifices that it takes to get in, get through the training, and perform the work. Honestly, it's the people with "attitude" walking into clinics and hospitals who ruin medical care for everyone else--they're the ones who shout at the receptionists, they're the ones most likely to sue for unsatisfactory outcomes, they're the ones most likely to argue with the doc in a hostile and confrontational manner, they learn most of what little they know on "political forums" but fail to read real books or uncover real facts. And it's this kind of person that applauds the ACA and its punitive approach toward doctors and insurers. You made this bed and now you can sleep in it.
I can sit here like a parrot and chirp "free market" all day long. [blah blah blah]. The alleged "free market" that is supposed to exist in the USA for medical care works pretty badly for those suffering with chronic illnesses and diseases. [blah blah].
What about the facts I presented do you find objectionable? I drew a clear comparison between a relatively free market and a non-free market. The contrast is huge; I personally experienced it. Anyway -- we're wandering off the topic. Bye.
I saw three doctors on TV discussing how their practices have changed and how it's just going to get worse in the future.
One quit being a doctor. She said she used to have to schedule her people for 15 MINUTE appointments to turn any profit whatsoever (like, profit as in simply paying the bills) ...then when she had to decrease it to 10 minute increments she threw in the towel. This did NOT include all the new WORK they have to do on the computer to document everything for the government online records. And did not include all the work she did at home after working all day in her practice.
Wah, wah, wah.
Primary and specialty-care physicians reported earnings at $216,170 and $404,000 respectively.
I understand we all have a lot of pressure in today's world.
But that's no reason to intentionally abuse your customer's time. Doctors simply need to become better schedulers, just like the rest of us. In the unusual event that a true emergency interrupts a physician's office practice, he or she simply needs to have their staff advise the patients, so that they have the option of waiting or rescheduling.
Who do these doctors think they are anyway? Cable TV technicians?
I don't suggest you walk out after spending an hr waiting.
Why? Many,many doctors have clauses....my Dr charges for the appointment(or bills my insurance) even if I didn't show up.f For this Dr,you have to cancel 24 hrs before the appointment.
It was on the forms that I filled out when I first became a patient of hers.
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