Healthcare is a joke

With no good punchline

I changed Doctors this time last year and am glad that I did.

My previous primary care Doctor was not a bad person nor a bad doctor as long as you were male. I really think he is clueless as to how his behavior changes depending on the gender of his patient.

I think the straw that broke the camels back for me was when Peter and I went in at slightly different times for basically the same problem with very little variation of what the problem was. Peter received medication that included a painkiller and a prescription anti-inflammatory, a script for physical therapy, and a follow up in case he still needed the painkiller. I got ‘use over the counter anti-inflammatory’ and lose weigh, which was this Doctor’s solution to any problem I had. Short of breath? Lose weight. Pain in the gut? Lose weight. Everything for this Doctor when it came to women is that we are all overweight and seeking pain medication for our sorry lives.

Peter still sees him because this Doctor does listen to him and has been a big help in keeping him alive.

I found, after a lot of trouble and looking, another Doctor who was female and practical and, most importantly, listens to what I am saying. Her staff is the same way from the desk to the consulting room. With one minor thing that I have been saying all along that no body seems to be listening to which is the number of stressors in my life. But she is better than most.

It was through her that I finally got my answer for the shortness of breath that had been probably my biggest problem, which was that part of my lung is not functioning. This explained a cascade of problems and symptoms I have been having. Armed with this knowledge, I have been able to adjust things and get back to what I was doing for the most part.

Caroline is going to her as well since she turned 16 and doesn’t want to be seen by a pediatrician anymore. She is happy with her level of care as well.

Overall health care in the US is a mess. We are caught in the vice grip of companies, for all their nice commercials on how they value us, who don’t give a damn about the people they are serving but how much money they can make off our backs. And we complain about them all the time but nothing has changed except for the worst.

Of course we are talking companies that sell health insurance and drugs.

At the beginning of the year, medication that Peter has been paying an eight-dollar co-pay since he went on it after the stroke, almost seven years ago, to a thirty-dollar co-pay for no reason other than the drug is now no longer under patent and there is a generic version for sale. There was another that went from ten dollars to a hundred and forty for the generic version. We got him back on the brand version and our co-pay went back to ten dollars.

It is insane.

I am very lucky that the pharmacy we go to and the people who work there are very much on top of this. I have watched them go above and beyond to help people find a way to pay for the medication they need to live their lives and not die.

But the amount we have to pay in co-pays is sneaking up slowly every couple of months it seems. We adjust our budget and go on but a lot of people on fixed incomes do not have that option.

And the next time Big Pharma declares that the prices are so high because of research and development, feel free to toss them the finger. Because that had been their defense on price hikes for years and, considering the profits they make every year, it no longer holds water.

We have Mickey Mouse insurance. No seriously, we get our health insurance through Marvel which is own by Disney. And it is good health insurance. We are very lucky to have it and we appreciate it each and every day.

Disney looks after its employees in this regard. They have all kinds of programs for health and wellness that we have available to us. There are incentives to do the healthy thing. There are people to talk to who will advocate for your health with the insurance company. We used this a lot during Peter’s stroke and recovery. They have wellness coaches to help figure out how to stay healthy. It’s a system with a lot of support.

I know a lot of people who do not have these options. They barely have health insurance and the monthly bill and co-pays are insane considering what they get for their money.

But they are better off than the people who have no health insurance and just live with whatever because they cannot afford even basic care.

After the affordable health care act passed and people got health insurance through the exchanges, I had a lot of friends who were able to address long time problems for the first time because they had health insurance that could not refuse for a pre-existing condition. They could get preventive care so they didn’t end up in the ER or dead. It was still not cheap but they could afford to be sick again.

But again it is profits over people. Insurance companies have posted record profits for most of the 2000s. The bonuses paid would buy health care for a small town.

Both Big Pharma and the Health Insurance companies are terrified of universal health care because with regulation, which they have not had in a very long time, comes questions about the money they are making. The Health Insurance companies are pouring a lot of money into the political arena trying to stay in business. Big Pharma to keep its system in place and make money for their stock holders.

And who gets the short end of the stick? Their customers which would be us collectively.

It is not going to be easy to fix this mess we have gotten ourselves into but it does need to be done and sooner rather than later.

I am grateful for Doctors who listen rather than make snap judgments based on what they see.