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Politics : A US National Health Care System? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lady Lurksalot who wrote (698)	4/19/2005 1:11:23 PM
From: Peter Dierks	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42652

Many things factor into the high cost of health care in this country, not the least of which is the third-party payer system, for-profit medical facilities and HMOs whose first allegiance is to the shareholders, etc. You are correct. The third party payer system divorces responsibility from the patient. More testing is good, and if more testing is good then even more testing (and treatment) must be even better. Every unanswered question must result in umpteen specialist visits in the hopes that one will have an answer. I love my children's pediatrician. My son was having stomachaches. Our pediatrician very carefully interviewed me; he asked many follow up questions. He then proceeded to spend ten minutes explaining the 60% to 70% most probable causes. He explained in a cursory fashion the next 20% or so and commented that the remaining possibilities remote and not immediately health threatening. He gave us stool softener and the problem was solved. Because of the doctor's great methods, he inspired confidence that he was knowledgeable, and competent. The additional cost of a few minutes to us and our insurance company was what I would have wanted if it were being billed directly. It lowered the potential future cost of treatment. Too many doctors are like my mother-in-law's former doctor. On her last visit he made her wait a long time in the exam room, ran in, barely listened and tried to rush in out in under 5 minutes. When she asked him about a different concern her answer was "no", and he changed the visit to complex so they could bill more for it. He would have had a tough time collecting the extra money if she were paying.