I am exhausted after an excruciatingly frustrating week dealing with the US medical system. Basic tasks and appointments become anxiety riddled algebra problems, where the patient is asked to weigh costs and quality of treatment with intentionally imperfect information. How did we get here?
It's wild. I always also think about how doctors can be 30-60 mins late, but if you show up to an appointment 5-10 mins late you risk cancellation.
It's a nightmare. As a healthy twenty-year-old I could comfortably live in denial because I didn't need healthcare. Insurance was just another tax. But now that I have a kid and am approaching middle age, I've caught glimpses of the Kafkaesque horrors that await.
"Temporary government program" https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/05/upshot/the-real-reason-the-us-has-employer-sponsored-health-insurance.html
Nobody there is your advocate, you must treat them as the enemy or they will kill you in ways only different than what you showed up for. I’ve had 9 breaks and 6 surgeries myself. They can fix broken things but because of the systems design you shouldn’t trust any of them can heal or help you by default
We need to get the consumer between the insurance companies and the medical providers. Right now the insurance company is between the consumer and the provider. It would solve so many issues
We made it a for-profit business. Different optimizations + decisions happen if something is a business vs a public service.
sorry to hear this and can empathize. dealing with insurance to schedule knee surgery in sf for my partner was similarly frustrating
sitting at an appointment right now and thinking how insane the pain point is of sharing documentation between dr’s, like it’s my health data why do I have to fill out five forms to transfer this
40 years of health policy leadership fucking each other other. it’s more important that todd at the VA knows his place than we get healthcare.
Specialist care is brutal, but One Medical for primary care is worth the money IMO and reduces the anxiety
Ugh, sorry you had to deal with that. There are so many reasons that the US medical system is borked... Part of the problem is sheer inertia.
