Health care in the US has gone down the toilet.

When they're not pushing popular drugs on you, mine for example likes to give me meds that make it harder to breathe. I have COPD FFS! Why would I want meds that make that worse? But in the hospital if I'm in resp failure he won't give me any anxiety med cuz "It could kill you." Seriously?
 
debodun said:
On my wellness visits, my doctor always asks how my diet is. I always respond, "Atrocious!", but she doesn't suggest any modifications, probably because she knows I won't follow them.
Click to expand...
I'm not clear on why annual wellness visits seem more important to you than regular doctor visits. My experience with Medicare annual wellness exams has been that they accomplish nothing except to ask a few questions primarily aimed at assessing cognitive abilities. I don't even get them anymore since my semi-annual check ups serve the same purpose and much more.
 
MACKTEXAS said:
I'm not clear on why annual wellness visits seem more important to you than regular doctor visits. My experience with Medicare annual wellness exams has been that they accomplish nothing except to ask a few questions primarily aimed at assessing cognitive abilities. I don't even get them anymore since my semi-annual check ups serve the same purpose and much more.
Click to expand...
100% agree with this. They were a waste of mine and my doc's time. They finally quit requesting them.

And that whole nurse visiting the house thing. I was on my tractor working when a call came through wanting to schedule a visit. I told them no. And that no would be my answer every time they called. The quit calling about the visiting nurses too.
 
My annual wellness check is a complete physical exam with my PCP. 20-25 minutes, I'd guess. He orders a full complement of blood tests a couple of weeks before so we can go over any changes.

We discuss any health questions or complaints I have and he orders tests or referrals accordingly.

I can't imagine skipping that annual checkup. @MACKTEXAS, @robin416, and others: do you get an annual physical exam separate from the wellness check, and that's why it feels like a waste of time?

I've never been offered a nurse visit, but without knowing what (necessary) purpose it was intended to serve, I'd surely decline it.
 
@StarSong what Mack and I are talking about is totally different from what you're getting done. I see my PC every 6 months, all that you have done, I have done at that time. That ridiculous annual wellness was on top of those six month visits. And I'm not exaggerating when I say ridiculous. Doc asks if you're depressed? How are you eating? Do you fall? He checks off the answers and then we're done.
 
StarSong said:
I can't imagine skipping that annual checkup. @MACKTEXAS, @robin416, and others: do you get an annual physical exam separate from the wellness check, and that's why it feels like a waste of time?
Click to expand...
I have blood work and see the doctor every 6 months. He knows me as well as I know some friends of mine and is very perceptive. He would notice any cognitive decline or other irregularities without a Medicare wellness visit.

I was getting the wellness visit once a year in addition to the visits I just mentioned. For some reason, my insurance denied payment for the last wellness visit - probably because it was performed on the same date as my regular visit - so the practice wrote off the charge. I do not feel they should "eat" this charge, and it is not necessary, so I informed them I will not have another one.

________________________________________
Edited to correct wording error in closing paragraph.
 
Last edited:
I know people who got an RN or PA for those visits. One insisted on coming out less than a month after they got out of the hospital and were still getting weekly nurse and therapist visits.

I think the insurance companies want to check on patient compliance and progress as much as anything. Not discover something.
 
One thing I noticed as those annual visits/check up occured the insurance companies started having a pharmacist call the patient and ask them were they taking their prescribed drugs and having any issues or were there any questions. This is one of the reasons I think it's compliance check and probably a cya precaution in case there are issues down the road.
 
Last edited:
WhatInThe said:
I know people who got an RN or PA for those visits. One insisted on coming out less than a month after they got out of the hospital and were still getting weekly nurse and therapist visits.

I think the insurance companies want to check on patient compliance and progress as much as anything. Not discover something.
Click to expand...
These nurse visits they wanted to schedule had nothing to do with just being released from a medical situation. Now if they want to offer the same when I'm finally getting to a place that I'm not able to walk 50 feet, then fine. But while I'm perfectly capable of removing trees with either chainsaw or my tractor they just need to leave me be.
 
WhatInThe said:
One thing I noticed as those annual visits/check up occured the insurance companies started having a pharmacist call the patient and ask them were they taking their prescribed drugs and having any issues or were there any questions. This is one of the reasons I think it's a a compliance and probably a cya precaution in case there's issues down the road.
Click to expand...
I got recorded messages like that from both the pharmacy and the insurance company. I wouldn't answer the phone when I saw who it was and they quit.
 
StarSong said:
30 years ago I often listened to a mid-afternoon call-in medical radio show when I'd pick up my kids from school. Can't recall the hosting doctor's name, but I learned a lot from him.

When callers expressed deep frustration with doctors being unable to pinpoint a diagnosis, or anger with the medical and pharmaceutical entities for not having a cure or good treatment for their condition, he'd gently start with, "Let's remember, it's not the doctor's fault you're sick."

That show taught me invaluable information, including that there are numerous health conditions that express unusually in some people, or occur so rarely that many doctors may have never come across them.

Having a weird, rare medical anomaly myself, I know whereof I speak. I eventually discovered what was going on via Reddit when (probably my hundredth) symptom search pointed me to a thread of fellow sufferers. It described precisely what I was going through and gave me the name of the condition.

From that and further research, I learned the most effective "treatment" was to avoid whatever triggered it one's own body. Which I've mostly done successfully.

If I were still in the dark about it now, I'd feed my symptoms and info to ChatGPT (anonymously, of course). AI is a pretty good tool for narrowing down medical mysteries.
Click to expand...
I'm glad you were able to find out what is wrong and be able to improve. :)
 
Until this forum, I had never heard of doctors or medical practices reporting patirents as non-compliant. I read some information about it, and find that it generally does not mean making a report to external authorities. It is usually a note in the patient's medical record that the patient was given certain medical advice but elected not to follow it.

I have many times refused certain diagnostic tests that doctors wanted me to have - such as colonoscopies, endoscopies, or prostate biopsies. My doctor simply advised me that such tests were needed to make an accurate diagnosis but I chose not to have them. I was never made to feel he might dismiss me or take any punitive action, nor has he ever done anything like that. Our discussion was simply noted in my chart, the same as all of my doctor visits are noted.
 
I have been dreading getting the bill from that 2 day stay-over and it hadn't come.
So I went to my healthcare site and Whooopie... no wonder balance $0.00
Insurance covered it all.
 
MACKTEXAS said:
Until this forum, I had never heard of doctors or medical practices reporting patirents as non-compliant. I read some information about it, and find that it generally does not mean making a report to external authorities. It is usually a note in the patient's medical record that the patient was given certain medical advice but elected not to follow it.

I have many times refused certain diagnostic tests that doctors wanted me to have - such as colonoscopies, endoscopies, or prostate biopsies. My doctor simply advised me that such tests were needed to make an accurate diagnosis but I chose not to have them. I was never made to feel he might dismiss me or take any punitive action, nor has he ever done anything like that. Our discussion was simply noted in my chart, the same as all of my doctor visits are noted.
Click to expand...
Not sure if this post was aimed at anyone in particular...
They don't report you as non compliant but the note in the file effects everything else. In the hospital they mentioned something about me being non compliant and I was mad because I wasn't doing anything wrong. But sometimes they tend to shame a patient with this information.

If you aren't compliant enough to their liking they can fire you as a patient. What made me so angry was that he was going off information from before I even met him or started seeing him. His notes were inaccurate so he was accusing me of things I had not said or done in the context he was griping about. He said I had told the ER I had no pulmonologist. But that was way before the one I have now and they had never asked me again after that one time.

He accused me of not using my oxygen because he didn't have or couldn't see all of the pulmo's notes that I was to try to go without it. The day in question he claimed I didn't even have it with me. I did in fact. It was under my jacket on the chair. He could've asked me but instead accused me of wrong doing. Made an assumption rather than ask me directly.
 
MarciKS said:
Not sure if this post was aimed at anyone in particular...
Click to expand...
No, it wasn't aimed at you or anyone in particular, nor did I even recall how many members have posted about the issue. I was trying to understand why I've seen multiple members concerned about non-compliance, so I took out some time to read up on it.

If it's been your personal experience that "they" can "fire" you, I don't aim at you or question you. But I don't expect to encounter the same reaction from my doctor that you have. If he was going to do such, it would have happened long ago, since I have refused many tests. I've made it clear to him (with his understanding and acceptance) that I may have a different outlook if I was 40 years old, but at my present age, I do not intend to take any drastic measures to extend my life.
 
MACKTEXAS said:
No, it wasn't aimed at you or anyone in particular, nor did I even recall how many members have posted about the issue. I was trying to understand why I've seen multiple members concerned about non-compliance, so I took out some time to read up on it.

If it's been your personal experience that "they" can "fire" you, I don't aim at you or question you. But I don't expect to encounter the same reaction from my doctor that you have. If he was going to do such, it would have happened long ago, since I have refused many tests. I've made it clear to him (with his understanding and acceptance) that I may have a different outlook if I was 40 years old, but at my present age, I do not intend to take any drastic measures to extend my life.
Click to expand...
Oh I know you didn't mean anything bad by the post. I was just basically explaining what I experienced. I've never had a doctor treat me like this before. It was infuriating and I didn't understand why he was being such a jerk. I've never been fired from a dr I just heard it can happen. I too don't intend to prolong my life so I don't get all those tests either.
 
I have made scathing comments on the healthcare industry Stateside and have been told to back off because I;m not American. That has been topped off with meaningless rhetoric in defense of said industry.
Maybe now the message from within will be listened to...
Maybe not because you live in the disunited states!
 
MarciKS said:
Oh I know you didn't mean anything bad by the post. I was just basically explaining what I experienced. I've never had a doctor treat me like this before. It was infuriating and I didn't understand why he was being such a jerk. I've never been fired from a dr I just heard it can happen. I too don't intend to prolong my life so I don't get all those tests either.
Click to expand...
Yeah, it happens as far as the firing goes. My hubs was fired from one after he had a bout of pneumonia and decided to continue smoking.

I have access to my records after a visit. Doc's notes are bit exaggerated, not in a bad way but not in a 100% way. No, he didn't ask me to remember a string of words and I remembered them. That's the one I can think of off the top of my head. He's assessing the person sitting in front of him. He doesn't need to do the dementia testing and he sees that.

@MarciKS I can't see you not slapping them down for all of the misinformation they're tossing at you. If you haven't yet, get started. I was going to say don't let them railroad you but I just don't see you letting that happen.
 
robin416 said:
Yeah, it happens as far as the firing goes. My hubs was fired from one after he had a bout of pneumonia and decided to continue smoking.

I have access to my records after a visit. Doc's notes are bit exaggerated, not in a bad way but not in a 100% way. No, he didn't ask me to remember a string of words and I remembered them. That's the one I can think of off the top of my head. He's assessing the person sitting in front of him. He doesn't need to do the dementia testing and he sees that.

@MarciKS I can't see you not slapping them down for all of the misinformation they're tossing at you. If you haven't yet, get started. I was going to say don't let them railroad you but I just don't see you letting that happen.
Click to expand...
Well I'll tell ya, we had quite the argument in that exam room that one day. I was so mad! I tried to get him to give me some exact examples but because his notes are so shoddy he couldn't do it so he refused to "cherry pick" as he called it. When I went back through some of his comments and tried to tell him what was what he called me a liar. Told me I was pissing him off. So I shot it right back at him. I only go for my two 6 month appts a year now.

If I need help in between I either go to urgent care or the ER. And when they tell me to do a follow up treatment I don't. Reason being if I do and he doesn't agree about seeing me they call and tell me they've cancelled it. So I don't even bother following up anymore. The docs here get to decide who they will or won't take on. None of them wanted me except him. The only other clinic in town isn't on our covered provider list.
 
Rakaia said:
I have made scathing comments on the healthcare industry Stateside and have been told to back off because I;m not American. That has been topped off with meaningless rhetoric in defense of said industry.
Maybe now the message from within will be listened to...
Maybe not because you live in the disunited states!
Click to expand...
No place is perfect. No matter where you live.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top