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Americans Are Skipping Doctor Visits Due to Costs

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Re: Americans Are Skipping Doctor Visits Due to Costs

#61

Post by nth_degree »

wrp wrote: post #47
danans wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Their old GP retired and sold his clinic to a "concierge" system/network Concierge medicine is a luxury service where you pay an annual out of pocket membership fee to have a doctor always on call, including home visits. Its popular among the very wealthy, but not affordable for most people.

I've read comments that concierge medicine is cost effective if you require frequent visits, as with many older patients. Would like to know if this is true.

My in-laws, who are not wealthy, absolutely love the concierge set-up they have with their doctor. They do utilize it often, which makes it worth it.

Re: Americans Are Skipping Doctor Visits Due to Costs

#62

Post by danans »

nth_degree wrote: post #61
wrp wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've read comments that concierge medicine is cost effective if you require frequent visits, as with many older patients. Would like to know if this is true.

My in-laws, who are not wealthy, absolutely love the concierge set-up they have with their doctor. They do utilize it often, which makes it worth it.

We're falling into a trap of using subjective definitions the term "wealthy".

$2000-$3000/person/year [1] on top of regular insurance is a more than most people can afford, especially in a country where a large percentage of the population has little in terms of savings [2], and 60% live paycheck-to-paycheck [3].

But you certainly don't have to be a billionaire or even a deca-millionaire to afford it. You just need to be in the higher percentiles of your local income/wealth distribution.

1. https://www.partnermd.com/blog/concierge-medicine-costs-fact...

2. https://www.bankrate.com/banking/savings/emergency-savings-r...

3. https://www.cnbc.com/2023/09/27/60percent-of-americans-are-s...

Re: Americans Are Skipping Doctor Visits Due to Costs

#63

Post by [deleted] »

modeless wrote: post #18
carbocation wrote: post #12

As a patient, post-2020 I find even basics like appointment scheduling to be hard. (I'm also an MD, which makes all of this easier for me, and yet it's still a morass of scheduling hell, too many phone calls, too many logins/reauthentications, etc.)

Appointment scheduling is beyond awful these days. We're getting specialist appointments scheduled literally a year out, or just outright rejected because they're too full. It's de facto rationing.

[deleted]

Re: Americans Are Skipping Doctor Visits Due to Costs

#64

Post by mynameisnoone »

freddie_mercury wrote: post #16
mynameisnoone wrote: post #2

I de facto require semaglutide due to the side-effects of the only anti-depressant I'm able to tolerate (I've titrated up and down on 17+). Unfortunately, I currently don't have health insurance and hovering at 35% excess weight. There's no point in my going to a doctor when all of their recommendations are "window shopping". The only way this shit stops is not Medicare for all, which is a red herring with third-clas…

Wait, do you think every other free country in the world has made private health insurance illegal?

Don't be silly. The smart ones have for good reason.

Re: Americans Are Skipping Doctor Visits Due to Costs

#65

Post by mynameisnoone »

hippich wrote: post #6
mynameisnoone wrote: post #2

I de facto require semaglutide due to the side-effects of the only anti-depressant I'm able to tolerate (I've titrated up and down on 17+). Unfortunately, I currently don't have health insurance and hovering at 35% excess weight. There's no point in my going to a doctor when all of their recommendations are "window shopping". The only way this shit stops is not Medicare for all, which is a red herring with third-clas…

While it is not the answer to the problem you stated, just in case, there are companies selling "research only" peptides including semaglutide. And depending on you risk tolerance, are viable alternative.

I'm not going to go to some crack dealer to get a medication that requires refrigeration. This is a systemic problem.

Also, semaglutide will be soon available in pill form. Semaglutide and metformin are the most revolutionary medications to prevent the most common and expensive diseases and improve life quality. One issue is that there is also a lack of longitudinal, evidence-based prophylaxis policy even in Medicare (the budget, third-rate health insurance for disabled and poor people) that waits until someone has suffered irreparable harm to then intervene with expensive care reactively. America is all about waiting until people are in the ER to do anything, and then drive them into bankruptcy while they're dying. I wonder how many people outside of Americans have met people with terminal cancer in the midst of bankruptcy proceedings with the hospitals pounding at the door to take everything they have while they're dying.

Re: Americans Are Skipping Doctor Visits Due to Costs

#66

Post by mynameisnoone »

SnorkelTan wrote: post #9
mynameisnoone wrote: post #2

I de facto require semaglutide due to the side-effects of the only anti-depressant I'm able to tolerate (I've titrated up and down on 17+). Unfortunately, I currently don't have health insurance and hovering at 35% excess weight. There's no point in my going to a doctor when all of their recommendations are "window shopping". The only way this shit stops is not Medicare for all, which is a red herring with third-clas…

Gastric bypass? Has the benefit of being a onetime payment instead of in perpetuity.

Fuck no. You first.

Re: Americans Are Skipping Doctor Visits Due to Costs

#67

Post by mynameisnoone »

slipandafall wrote: post #41
mynameisnoone wrote: post #2

I de facto require semaglutide due to the side-effects of the only anti-depressant I'm able to tolerate (I've titrated up and down on 17+). Unfortunately, I currently don't have health insurance and hovering at 35% excess weight. There's no point in my going to a doctor when all of their recommendations are "window shopping". The only way this shit stops is not Medicare for all, which is a red herring with third-clas…

I think it's the over regulation of the industry that's causing the issues. A medical degree AND at least 1 year of residency are required to be licensed to practice, which is fine. But congress capped the amount of residency slots in 1997 due to fears of having to many doctors and hasn't raised it pretty much since. So yes, "big government regulation" and central planning aka communism has caused this issue. Those c…

This is a really sophomoric, conspiratorial, uninformed take. Doctors aren't the problem.

It's the for-profit engines of corporate hospitals, insurance, and big pharma.

Re: Americans Are Skipping Doctor Visits Due to Costs

#68

Post by slipandafall »

mynameisnoone wrote: post #67
slipandafall wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's the over regulation of the industry that's causing the issues. A medical degree AND at least 1 year of residency are required to be licensed to practice, which is fine. But congress capped the amount of residency slots in 1997 due to fears of having to many doctors and hasn't raised it pretty much since. So yes, "big government regulation" and central planning aka communism has caused this issue. Those c…

This is a really sophomoric, conspiratorial, uninformed take. Doctors aren't the problem. It's the for-profit engines of corporate hospitals, insurance, and big pharma.

I never said doctors were the problem, I said congress was the major cause of the problem by limiting the amount of residency slots based on incorrect predictions. Those for-profit engines do have an effect but they're just playing by the rules established by congress.

Not sure where you got conspiratorial or uninformed, here's the study that guided the decision making [1]. I will take sophomoric since I don't know a damn thing about this industry, but both left and right are recognizing the problem and trying to get something done about it which is what we need more of[2].

[1] - https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED210990 [2] - https://www.ualrpublicradio.org/local-regional-news/2023-05-...

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