Things It Does Well
- Make money for insurance companies and pharmaceuticals.
- Conduct cutting edge lab research – which also feeds capital investments in private companies.
- Perform cutting edge surgeries.
- Give patients who can afford it a freedom of choice between doctors and available treatments.
Things It Does Not Do Well
- Give optimal care for patients including reduced wait times for procedures and routine visits.
- Give doctors and patients more incentives for preventative care.
- Give equal access to care and treatment due to high costs of insurance, medical billing, drugs, labs, and doctor fees.
- Treat pre-existing conditions especially when one is forced to switch insurance providers.
- Force practitioners to wade through loads of paperwork and forms dealing with insurance companies resistant to certain treatments and tests.
There are obviously more items that one can list in both cases. But the evidence would seem to suggest that the current U.S. healthcare system largely initiated during the Nixon administration serves profit bearing corporations much better than the average patient who needs treatments and care. In other words, the more money you put in, the better care you get – sometimes. It's all about what you can afford here. The rich can stay healthy, the not so rich have to deal with cost cutting measures that are prohibitive to optimal care.
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Insurance companies also have a vested interest in telling doctors how to 'best' treat patients rather than allow the dr. and patient to decide together. They are also in cahoots with some doctors to keep research from happening. I.E. the Infectious Disease Board is being requested to re-write their guidelines for treating Lyme Disease and to even recognize it as a chronic problem. The drs were paid off not to affirm it is a problem. So much corruption it makes me sick.
Most Lyme Literate drs don't take insurance anymore cuz of fear of being sued like Blue Cross did to Dr. Jemsek in N. Carolina. They are also sick and tired of being told how to treat their patients. Thus, we the patients suffer because we have insurance for other needs, pay the high premiums, deal with pre-existing conditions, and then have to pay exorbinant out of pocket expenses to be treated by Lyme Literate Drs.
The entire system NEEDS to be overhauled and reformed!
that's what chronic fatigue and fibromyagia are for – illness without a definitive diagnosis that are probably some other problem that insurance companies don't want to pay for. so people suffer while the pockets of the bastards line up.
my wife was trying to get an mri today to confirm a torn rotator cuff in her shoulder. even went to the er. only option, get an appointment for next tuesday! yet if she was drunk and drove the car into a pole, she would get the mri. responsible people suffer in this market. and we wonder why insurance fraud is so rampant.
Insurance companies also have a vested interest in telling doctors how to 'best' treat patients rather than allow the dr. and patient to decide together. They are also in cahoots with some doctors to keep research from happening. I.E. the Infectious Disease Board is being requested to re-write their guidelines for treating Lyme Disease and to even recognize it as a chronic problem. The drs were paid off not to affirm it is a problem. So much corruption it makes me sick.
Most Lyme Literate drs don't take insurance anymore cuz of fear of being sued like Blue Cross did to Dr. Jemsek in N. Carolina. They are also sick and tired of being told how to treat their patients. Thus, we the patients suffer because we have insurance for other needs, pay the high premiums, deal with pre-existing conditions, and then have to pay exorbinant out of pocket expenses to be treated by Lyme Literate Drs.
The entire system NEEDS to be overhauled and reformed!
that's what chronic fatigue and fibromyagia are for – illness without a definitive diagnosis that are probably some other problem that insurance companies don't want to pay for. so people suffer while the pockets of the bastards line up.
my wife was trying to get an mri today to confirm a torn rotator cuff in her shoulder. even went to the er. only option, get an appointment for next tuesday! yet if she was drunk and drove the car into a pole, she would get the mri. responsible people suffer in this market. and we wonder why insurance fraud is so rampant.