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I Now Have a Cardiologist

joecieplinski.com

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Re: I Now Have a Cardiologist

#101

Post by baq »

mbreese wrote: post #99
usaphp wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> $20k a year is peanuts compared to the out-of-pocket expenses of a serious medical emergency. And that’s the most annoying part. The fact that $20,000 is considered peanuts in a medical condition is already outrageous. My friend’s wife had a c-section child delivery and was billed $38,000...for a 3 days stay at the hospital. No complications just a planned c-section. I understand that’s the reason why the insurance…

> No complications just a planned c-section There was a lot of effort, planning, and training that goes into making sure that there aren't any complications. Not to mention the fact that even routine procedures can have unexpected complications that have to be planned for and addressed. I think that $38k for a surgical procedure with post-operative care for the mother and child isn't necessarily that outrageous. Just…

I have 3 kids delivered by c-section. Total paid - €0. Performed by trained professionals in a nice hospital, not by villagers in a shed.

Re: I Now Have a Cardiologist

#102

Post by Latteland »

gonzo41 wrote: post #5
laurencei wrote: post #4

If you put a popular device, with a medical detection tool into the wider population, it would be logical that the device would pick up on patients who would other not notice the symptoms (at least initially, if any). So then the question becomes what other daily device(s) could be made to do automatic health checks of certain specific indicators, which would give an early indication to the possible condition, thus i…

I've read about automated phone calls to the elderly to build up data on response times. It was a dementia early detection tool. Seemed to be a pretty smart approach just to ring the home phone or mobile and ask for them to say a word. Takes no time.an requires recall and cognition. Also confirms the old person isn't dead.

Would you like this if you were an old person (maybe any person)? Faceless machine bugs you at home (were you napping?), rates you and you can't speak to a human about it.

No one would like this. It is an interesting idea.

Re: I Now Have a Cardiologist

#104

Post by jimktrains2 »

m0zg wrote: post #93
brianpgordon wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And this year, Kaiser Permanente just nonchalantly raised the premium by a little under 20%. I wonder how much of this is due to the repeal of the individual mandate, which Wikipedia says takes effect this year.

Don't see why KP would be affected by that directly. KP doesn't eat the cost of the uninsured.

But the uninsured are more likely to be poor (and use the error for basic care because they can't afford it, raising the cost for everyone) or healthy (adding less to the cost more than they share of it). Thise two ideas are the heart and trade-off of the individual mandate: insurers must cover anyone without giant markups and in exchange everyone was forced to buy insurance to help cover those costs.

Re: I Now Have a Cardiologist

#105

Post by jchw »

laurencei wrote: post #4

If you put a popular device, with a medical detection tool into the wider population, it would be logical that the device would pick up on patients who would other not notice the symptoms (at least initially, if any). So then the question becomes what other daily device(s) could be made to do automatic health checks of certain specific indicators, which would give an early indication to the possible condition, thus i…

As someone who suffers from a bit of health anxiety: let's at least be very careful about false positives and inaccurate tests. The mere suggestion of health issues have sent me down spirals before.

Re: I Now Have a Cardiologist

#106

Post by dehrmann »

laurencei wrote: post #4

If you put a popular device, with a medical detection tool into the wider population, it would be logical that the device would pick up on patients who would other not notice the symptoms (at least initially, if any). So then the question becomes what other daily device(s) could be made to do automatic health checks of certain specific indicators, which would give an early indication to the possible condition, thus i…

> thus improving life expectancy and quality of life, while lowering associated medical costs

Be careful with this. Look into the result of increase PSA testing:

> Although experts are somewhat split on the value of PSA tests as a screening tool, there is widespread agreement on two major points: overdiagnosis and overtreatment rates are far too high, and there is an urgent need to refine PSA testing to be a more effective screening tool. [1]

Or mammograms

> We conclude that the mammography FP rate in North America is in excess... [2]

Arguably, the issue is that we just lack good baseline data, but you have to consider all the false positives you'll get with more data collection.

[1]: https://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/the-pros-and-cons-...

[2]: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5124917/

Re: I Now Have a Cardiologist

#107

Post by mbreese »

baq wrote: post #101
mbreese wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> No complications just a planned c-section There was a lot of effort, planning, and training that goes into making sure that there aren't any complications. Not to mention the fact that even routine procedures can have unexpected complications that have to be planned for and addressed. I think that $38k for a surgical procedure with post-operative care for the mother and child isn't necessarily that outrageous. Just…

I have 3 kids delivered by c-section. Total paid - €0. Performed by trained professionals in a nice hospital, not by villagers in a shed.

Given that you are quoting the price in Euros, I suspect the funding mechanism for your hospital is very different than the hospital costs the parent was talking about.

I know nothing about how the financial side of European hospitals work though... but I assume they still have internal costs that are tracked and tallied. Your kids' deliveries may not have cost you, but there was a total cost somewhere in the system. It probably wasn't anywhere near $38k, but even that isn't a fair comparison due to the substantial differences between the medical systems and the way indirect costs could be covered.

(I'm not trying to defend one system or the other, just pointing out that the systems are different so direct comparisons like $38k vs €0 aren't that straightforward. It gets even less straightforward when you factor in the US medical insurance system.)

Re: I Now Have a Cardiologist

#108

Post by tapland »

dreamcompiler wrote: post #87
dheera wrote: post #77

I have had a couple instances of ventricular fibrillation. I have an implant which brings me back to life when that happens; I would be dead without it. However, I do go unconscious for a few seconds until I get shocked back to life. Although my case is infrequent enough that it is not thought of as a risk by the medical community, for peace of mind what I would really like to have is a link between a watch of some s…

> the car could also self-drive itself to a hospital I think you're onto a good idea, except for the above quote. It would be a much better idea to have the car automatically pull over to the shoulder, stop, engage the flashers, and call 911. Paramedics can keep you alive en route to the hospital with drugs, cardioversion, and CPR. Your car cannot.

The problem is response time. If you are currently on the road it's probably faster to head to the hospital than to wait for an ambulance.

Re: I Now Have a Cardiologist

#109

Post by EvanAnderson »

veryworried wrote: post #42
usaphp wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imagine a regular sized family of 4, you have to shell out more than $20K/year for the most basic health insurance for your family if you are self employed, $20,000! and you still have to pay for EVERY doctor visit for your kids and regular checkups, and your family deductible is around $10-12K. And every year they send you a new increased quote by 10-15%. There should be some kind of a discount for families, like wh…

Eh, with cars you can only be driving one at a time so it doesn't make sense for insurance to double or triple just because you now have two or three cars. With family members, they are all absolutely living in parallel and at the same time.

I've owned 5 cars at one point, and dropping or adding cars never changed the amount of the premium attributed to the other cars. (That is to say adding car 5 was an increase similar to adding car 4, for example.) I never understood why, seeing as how I can only drive one at a time, but I've always just assumed this is customary.

Re: I Now Have a Cardiologist

#110

Post by azinman2 »

dheera wrote: post #77

I have had a couple instances of ventricular fibrillation. I have an implant which brings me back to life when that happens; I would be dead without it. However, I do go unconscious for a few seconds until I get shocked back to life. Although my case is infrequent enough that it is not thought of as a risk by the medical community, for peace of mind what I would really like to have is a link between a watch of some s…

Perhaps you shouldn’t be driving? Sounds really dangerous to me...
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