obamacare

[ennas]

i'm new. age 61, diagnosed one year ago with tremor starting two years ago. no meds, and i hope to keep it that way. i keep having to switch neurologists because of shrinking networks. some networks don't seem to have specialists. i guess you have to pay extra for that. i'm not complaining about obamacare; it was great at first, but it does need some tinkering.

[Serenity_finaly-1]

As someone who pays 1600 month for health insurance, for my family and I, feel free to complain.

[Jeansm in reply to Serenity_finaly-1]

Consider yourself lucky. Been paying and still paying UK private health insurance forever, but discovered that chronic diseases such as Parkinson's are not covered by the policy! So once diagnosed I had to self pay or join the postcode lottery of the NHS coverage. My area has epilepsy, MS and general geriatric neurology but no Parkinson's or movement disorder specialist.

[Pauldmd in reply to Serenity_finaly-1]

My wife and I pay about $1600 monthly for health insurance for just the two of us. It was a decent plan until it changed to make it ACA compliant. Now we have coinsurance and deductibles as well as the usual copay. As I understand it, the idea behind this was to have patients become more aware of the cost of health care and reduce over utilization. My recent echocardiogram cost me well over $1000 despite having "excellent" coverage.

I was a practicing dentist in my pre PD life, so physicians tend to be very candid with me regarding their views on the changing medical landscape. The move to paperless record keeping has become a sore point with many MDs I've spoken to. They find the constant computer presence a barrier to patient communication.

There has to be a mechanism by which all people can receive the medical care they need but to do so would require abandoning the defensive medicine model practiced in the US.

I spoke to a nurse who was in an Eastern European country with socialized medicine when she fell off a bicycle. She said she went to th ER, where the x-rayed her wrist, wrapped it for a sprain and sent her on her way. They asked for nothing more than her name. No blood pressure, vitals, MRI or blood work, just a diagnosis and treatment for the problem she arrived with. Imagine how much less medical care would cost practicing in such a way.

[Hikoi in reply to Pauldmd]

Pauldmd

I'm not sure what you were implying by the final example but I would have thought that was an appropriate response by any ER. In an ER in the states would they do a full work up for a sprained wrist? As a sprained wrist is a minor complaint by implication that means everyone who arrives in the ER must get a complete check up. I doubt this but if it is so then maybe that explains why the US spends twice as much per capita on health than other developed nations.

pgpf.org/chart-archive/0006...

[Pauldmd in reply to Hikoi]

The nurse who related this story to me was incredulous that nothing was done but address her chief complaint. You are right, though, that it is the reason we spend so much per capita here on health care.

I just had an annual physical a new general practitioner. As part of the exam they did a trans cranial Doppler. I had no complaints that would indicate a need for such a test but in the name of prevention these tests are done anyway.

[Hikoi in reply to Pauldmd]

Sounds llike she doesnt work in an emergency department then. They have enough to do without taking on a genneral practitioner role.

[movinngroovin]

Disability? Medicare? I was 61 when I stopped working.

[ennas in reply to movinngroovin]

that would be nice -- but i am not eligible for either. good for you!

[TheresaCurley]

Yes it needs Major tinkering but as you said it is a start. I would love to see the US get Universal Health Care.

[etterus]

With president Trump and the new congress the ACA is on the way out. What we need is Medicare for all, womb to tomb. It could be financed through a transaction fee for all stock market transactions. Just think of the millions of transactions that are computer generated and are basically gambling. The players are addicted to it so it's certain to continue. We could be world leaders with the best possible care for all.