On the show we periodically discuss health care. Davin and Pip take the side of Obama care and I take the side that it should be redone. I feel the government should regulate it but not try to run it. The last thing needed is a bureaucratic entity making life or death decisions.
But the scary part of this is it goes on in the private sector as well.
My doctor who I love and have been with for over twenty years had a private practice for years. You would call his office and speak with the receptionist you have known for years and make an appointment. Now you have to call a voice prompt and leave your name. It has gotten so bad that I have to go there in person and make my appointment just to make sure someone gets back to me.
When you go for your appointment instead of the Nurse you have known for years taking your vitals its some strange person that is different every time.
My Doctor comes in and you can tell they are overworked. Make sure you remember to ask any important questions you may have. How overworked are they? In previous years my Doctor would call me during office hours to review my blood work. He now calls as early as eight in the morning and as late as six at night now. It shows his dedication but also the fact he can’t get to things like this during the day.
When I had my physical last month he did a certain procedure and asked me to bring a sample of it with me when I went to get my blood work down the hall.
When I get to the area for the blood work I ask the women taking blood if there was a sign in sheet. She does not answer back and I did not want to bother her while she was taking blood. After waiting for another twenty minutes I ask again and she says yes. I asked why she didn’t say anything when asked twenty minutes prior realizing I’m starting an argument with somebody who will be stabbing me with a needle soon.
I finally get in and hand her my sample that my doctor gave me and told her, it’s not Christmas or your Birthday but I brought you a present. Not only did the joke fall flat, she tells me my Doctor did not send them authorization for the test. I told her that it was part of a prostate exam and I can tell you for a fact, Yeah he wants it and went looking for it. The nurse said well he has to let us know. I said well he let me know can we go with that, No he has to let us know. I said okay, he is ten feet down the hall can you ask him. No he has to do it electronically. I said can you walk down the hall by analog and ask him to send it electronically? I now again realize that I am arguing with someone who is about to stab me in two minutes.
They drew my blood soon after without pain and I went on my way, but I did learn this about health care.
Make sure you take the best care of yourself that you care, no matter where you go and if it is government or privately run the health care system is a cold bureaucratic nightmare and will never be fixed and their protocol will kill you quicker than any disease will.