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As someone who got about 30 CT scans in two months with insurance, I'd say yes about being paranoid with the insurance. When I haven't had insurance, I have had almost zero lab work prescribed without requesting it.
And yes, I will probably get cancer now thanks to the 30 CT scans. Oh well. I'll drink a lot of green tea and hope for the best!
Haha!
Well, you could drink green tea...maybe that will help.
Remember though, these are the same folks that on Monday say eggs can cure AIDS and by Friday they've changed their minds and say just looking at an egg will make you go blind!
Why have I seen many doctors who have charged $150 to see me for 10 minutes and not diagnosed a thing? Why do they charge $20-50 for a strep test that costs them less than a dollar?
I can't even count the number of times that doctors have failed to correctly diagnose me, and I have done a crapload of research on my own and suggested a diagnosis and they went with it. And charged me an arm and a leg for my own diagnosis just so I can get the treatment that I can't prescribe myself. WTF is up with that!
And blood work! With technology and the economics of scale, blood work should be a no brainer. It should cost next to nothing to do a CBC, yet I'm charged $200 for it? I'm tempted to buy my own equipment and do my own lab work. Seriously.
If our country is subsidizing anything, we are subsidizing corporate profits. Why else can I get generic drugs for $4 a month as soon as a patent runs out while another drug is $5,000 a month? This is while our tax money is also funding drug research.
Do a little research and see how many companies make that kind of bank. Not many.
A) How much did the doctor have to pay to go to school? B) How much overhead does the doctor have to run his office (think about the cost of providing health insurance to his own employees along with the cost to rent an office building, etc). C) How much does the doctor have to pay in malpractice insurance because of a lack of reform in tort laws and D) How much in costs does the doctor have to cover for underpayment by the government in Medicare and Medicaid patients?
The cost of the actual test has little to do with the cost of an office visit. Grow up and think about what it costs to run a damn business as opposed to just emoting all over your computer screen.
And last I checked, Pfizer was in business to make money. And what's the average education level of a Pfizer employee? A quick search shows that the average government employee makes $74,000 a year. Salaries are completely irrelevant to the discussion.
A) How much did the doctor have to pay to go to school? B) How much overhead does the doctor have to run his office (think about the cost of providing health insurance to his own employees along with the cost to rent an office building, etc). C) How much does the doctor have to pay in malpractice insurance because of a lack of reform in tort laws and D) How much in costs does the doctor have to cover for underpayment by the government in Medicare and Medicaid patients?
The cost of the actual test has little to do with the cost of an office visit. Grow up and think about what it costs to run a damn business as opposed to just emoting all over your computer screen.
Oh no you didn't just tell me to grow up and stop emoting all over my computer screen. lol
Seriously, though. Those are legitimate reasons for high costs, but you previously said health care costs so much simply because we have more available today. That is obviously not the only reason.
And I have to say that something is wrong when one doctor can charge me $55 a visit and get a diagnosis right the first time while many others will charge $150 and misdiagnose or simply not diagnose anything at all. The first doctor has the same overhead, yet is making a living by charging $55 a visit. The other doctors are obviously making much more and not doing a better job. That is ridiculous. I don't care how much your education cost, if you didn't learn enough from it to diagnose basic health issues, then you are not worth $150 a visit, period, regardless of your overhead and lack of business savvy.
Doctors can get away with this when insurance companies are paying the costs of the visits.
I have a HSA plan, so I get uppity over costs more than others because I really have a good idea of what health care costs. I took my son to FOUR different doctors and ended up spending almost $1000 so that he could be diagnosed with Molluscum contagiosum, which apparently is a pretty common childhood infection. Why three different pediatricians couldn't diagnose that correctly, along with multiple other experiences like this in my short life, are some of the reasons I feel the need to emote all over my computer screen. And why CVS has to do all kinds of things to save money on their health care costs!
Another random story I was thinking about today: I was put on several antibiotics, one being Zyvox, which would have cost me $5,000 a month had my insurance not paid for it. I lost my insurance after being on this drug for about three months (and a quick google search now reveals that I shouldn't have been taking it for more than 2 weeks!). My doctor was going to prescribe another month of it, but I informed him that I didn't have insurance anymore. All of the sudden, he didn't feel that the drug was necessary! I quit taking it right away, and totally didn't die, which is what he implied would happen if I stopped taking it before my insurance dropped me. Makes me kind of wonder if he was getting commission for prescribing these drugs? Either way, I got life long peripheral neuropathy from that drug, so that was awesome.
Quote:
Originally Posted by campion
And last I checked, Pfizer was in business to make money. And what's the average education level of a Pfizer employee? A quick search shows that the average government employee makes $74,000 a year. Salaries are completely irrelevant to the discussion.
I made no mention of salaries, so I'm not sure what you are trying to say.
Last edited by soanchorless; 03-24-2013 at 09:58 PM..
Its just a number. I don't want to be pay an extra 50 bucks for some fatties to get diabetes because they want Big Macs all day. Also I weigh just below 200 pounds...so I'm no skinny toothpick.
This is why the Wellness programs were started, only those that are a higher risk pay a higher premium in the group.
I pay 50% of what those that don't join(or fail all the tests) pay.
I know everyone will say this is an outrage, but considering how obesity has skyrocketed healthcare costs for the rest of us, I'm all for it.
Yeah. Seems kinda NAZI'ish but I agree. Obesity is a major epidemic in the US and all of the associated health problems are one of the major factors driving up our health care costs.
Hey, me too! I'm making an appointment soon, and already have the treatment plan ready to lay out for them. lol Too bad we have to pay for this!
I really don't want to disrespect doctors, and I know they MUST know more than me, but I haven't really seen it other than when I when I had literally one of the rarest medical disorders on Earth (and got the cream of the crop of doctors in the region). I'm sorry. I really haven't been impressed with the rest. I don't know what they do in medical school these days....
Here's a joke your post reminded me of:
Quote:
A mechanic was removing the cylinder heads from the motor of a car when he spotted the famous heart surgeon in his shop, who was standing off to the side, waiting for the service manager to come to take a look at his car.
The mechanic shouted across the garage,"Hello Doctor!! Please come over here for a minute."
The famous surgeon, a bit surprised, walked over to the mechanic.
The mechanic straightened up, wiped his hands on a rag and asked argumentatively, "So doctor, look at this. I also open hearts, take valves out, grind 'em, put in new parts, and when I finish this will work as a new one. So how come you get the big money, when you and me is doing basically the same work? "
The doctor leaned over and whispered to the mechanic.....
He said: "Try to do it when the engine is running."
Oh no you didn't just tell me to grow up and stop emoting all over my computer screen. lol
Seriously, though. Those are legitimate reasons for high costs, but you previously said health care costs so much simply because we have more available today. That is obviously not the only reason.
And I have to say that something is wrong when one doctor can charge me $55 a visit and get a diagnosis right the first time while many others will charge $150 and misdiagnose or simply not diagnose anything at all. The first doctor has the same overhead, yet is making a living by charging $55 a visit. The other doctors are obviously making much more and not doing a better job. That is ridiculous. I don't care how much your education cost, if you didn't learn enough from it to diagnose basic health issues, then you are not worth $150 a visit, period, regardless of your overhead and lack of business savvy.
Doctors can get away with this when insurance companies are paying the costs of the visits.
I have a HSA plan, so I get uppity over costs more than others because I really have a good idea of what health care costs. I took my son to FOUR different doctors and ended up spending almost $1000 so that he could be diagnosed with Molluscum contagiosum, which apparently is a pretty common childhood infection. Why three different pediatricians couldn't diagnose that correctly, along with multiple other experiences like this in my short life, are some of the reasons I feel the need to emote all over my computer screen. And why CVS has to do all kinds of things to save money on their health care costs!
Another random story I was thinking about today: I was put on several antibiotics, one being Zyvox, which would have cost me $5,000 a month had my insurance not paid for it. I lost my insurance after being on this drug for about three months (and a quick google search now reveals that I shouldn't have been taking it for more than 2 weeks!). My doctor was going to prescribe another month of it, but I informed him that I didn't have insurance anymore. All of the sudden, he didn't feel that the drug was necessary! I quit taking it right away, and totally didn't die, which is what he implied would happen if I stopped taking it before my insurance dropped me. Makes me kind of wonder if he was getting commission for prescribing these drugs? Either way, I got life long peripheral neuropathy from that drug, so that was awesome.
I made no mention of salaries, so I'm not sure what you are trying to say.
This type of thing may influence what types of drugs doctors prescribe:
Drug companies have long kept secret details of the payments they make to doctors and other health professionals for promoting their drugs. But 15 companies have begun publishing the information, some because of legal settlements. Use this tool to search for payments.
It would be good for everyone to make sure their doctor is using the most cost-effective drugs instead of the drugs that pharma companies are paying to promote!
Just looked up my own primary care doctors. They have taken less than $100 from drug companies in "meals." Good!
Well, we just got an email at work today that we have to do the same thing as the CVS workers and start an exercise log on our employer's website, or else our insurance premiums go up.
Technically not a fine, but the same end result.
No problem. America is fat and it's a very big issue healthcare cost wise. This is already done in many different areas. Healthy people pay less for life insurance/long term care/etc.
Because even "relatively healthy" seniors are going to need patched up physically and mentally at the end from natural aging. Relatively healthy 23-year-olds need next to nothing.
If someone w/o insurance abuses the hell out of their body and drops dead at age 35 it will still cost less than an insured/relatively healthy 95-year old's lifelong care.
Like I said, we need to get my plan going where we all live perfectly healthy, don't get sick, don't go to the doctor, pay high insurance cover and then commit suicide at age 40. I'm gonna run for office on this one.
Logan's Run for office.
Live fast, die young, and leave a good-looking corpse.
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