I also haven’t seen the place where you can go pay with cash and avoid lines. I’m pretty sure I couldn’t walk into Mass General or Brigham and Women’s in Boston and do that. If I did find this place, I’m sure my wallet can’t afford it in the same way that it can’t afford a Ferrari – it’ll probably cost you more than $500 for a simple strep test.

But will change attitude after your post ,

Thanks

tracy ho
wisdomgettingloaded

Maybe there are boutique doctors you can pay to come to your house and give you a foot massage while they diagnose you, but the complaints this person is making are not a sign of poor standard of care. Health insurance does pay the doctor a decent fee for the care he gives you. Just because the doctor doesn’t give you what you want out of the appointment (emotional validation?) doesn’t mean that he’s not giving you good care. As for making extra appointments for tests, that’s just SOP. General practice physicians don’t keep CT scanners in their office just so they can save you time. If you are getting better before you get a chance to see your specialist or get the tests that are ordered, consider that your doctor was being extra vigilant, and that he may actually have ordered unnecessary tests in response to your complaints. Maybe you should stay home next time, and see if you get better on your own. That would save the most time. Unfortunately, being seriously ill is never going to be fun or convenient. I have heard some horror stories about people being treated poorly by their health care providers, but this isn’t one of them.

A patients’ time *is* valuable – having to blow anywhere from 1/2 day to a whole day due to booking issues is unacceptable.
Doctor: At the very least, during busy times/seasons have the front desk post a sign reminding patients that each person will be heard, even if that means waiting. Also clearly post what your office can do in-house & what must be lab-ed out.
Patient: If your doctor makes this waiting & shuttling habit, change the doctor &/or lab if your insurance allows; if it doesn’t, chose a different one next open enrollment or go to one of the newer walk in clinics or Urgent Care.
Insurance: stop cheaping out on reimbursements.

Dropping in to just write a prescription w/o listening to & examining the patient, while again common, is a great way to get sued for missing issues that could well have been caught & cured, or effectively treated before death. Doctor: Why risk one’s professional reputation, malpractice rates & conscience? Why continue to be 1/2 the reason so many drugs have lost &/are losing effectiveness by taking the easy out writing prescriptions instead of communicating with the patient?
Patient: if you can change, why are you still tolerating this? Why continue to be the other 1/2 of the aforementioned problem by not taking the time to be an informed patient (ie: one who knows the basics flu vs. cold etc.)?

Yes, the medical system is broken in many respects, but all parties involved share the blame. “Whining” is done by both doctors & patients. If the groups worked together, they might actually create improvements to the very system both have come to despise.

My time is valuable. I despise having to wait in a crowded waiting room with coughing people and runny nosed kids. Then, the doctor takes 32 seconds and writes a prescription. There is very little diagnosis going on, just a quick once over and it’s done. I have to come back in six months to renew my allergy medication because he wants to get in another office visit bill.

On the other hand, we are so dependent on medical insurance that we aren’t really that involved in our health care system. We have no idea what the costs are BECAUSE of insurance.

We have become insurance sheep, but no one knows what to do about it. Socialized medicine is not the answer, since no one wants to wait 6 months to get a needed operation. I’m not sure what the answer is.

The self insured thing sounds good though.

It’s not a slam on people who can’t afford better, just people who complain loudly about it and blame doctors whose hands are tied.