http://www.democraticunderground.org/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5920824Oh my.
The silly primitive.
SoCalDem (1000+ posts) Thu Jun-25-09 05:00 AM
Original message
"You get to keep your own doctor" , and other myths
Right NOW, if your employer changes "plans", you don;t get to keep your doctor. We have pacificare, and when the company changed a few years back, we had Kaiser, so we HAD to change doctors, ...or self-insure.
Right NOW, if you are laid off and you cannot afford COBRA, you have to "change doctors", unless the doctor will see you for free
There is SO much apple-orange stuff clinging to the whole health care issue, it's making my head explode.
I can see these learned people deliberately obfuscating the debate, and adding goofy things into it...like co-ops.
They are TRYING to kill it.
It's so simple..
We want health CARE..not health INSURANCE.. Insurance & HMOs are what's RUINED the whole thing.
we want what Canada has..what France has..what the UK has, what Japan has, what S.Korea has, what Switzerland has, what Denmark has, etc.
we know it will cost money.. we are willing to pay what it costs...even if it means we have to quit starting wars
What's this "we" bit?
elocs (1000+ posts) Thu Jun-25-09 06:15 AM
Response to Original message
2. I had the same doctor for 30 years and had to find a new one when my employer switched plans.
This was a doctor who once called me at home on a Sunday morning when he noticed my bp was high when I had it checked on Friday. So I had insurance, but didn't get to keep my doctor. Moot point now since he is retired.
fasttense (1000+ posts) Thu Jun-25-09 06:19 AM
Response to Original message
3. Like that myth "Government will get between you and your doctor."
Like it is ok for insurance companies, looking to make every last penny from you, to get between you and your doctor. It's ok for insurance company to stop you from visiting your doctor all together by denying you coverage.
I'd rather have government between me and my doctor. At least I know they wont be looking to cut corners and get every last penny from me. If the government acted that way, we would vote them out of office. Oh wait we did.
Norrin Radd (1000+ posts) Thu Jun-25-09 07:03 AM
Response to Reply #3
4. People who hate government oh so much, such as republicans, shouldn't hold positions in government.
SoCalDem (1000+ posts) Thu Jun-25-09 07:09 AM
Response to Reply #4
5. They are SO afraid of "gubbmint-run-insurance", yet how many of them cash that SS check, use that medicare, and apply for benefits from the Federal Flood Insurance every few years?..and then the ones in harm's way from hurricanes, tornados, fires, quakes, etc. are never very timid when they want federal dollars to rebuild ...
Norrin Radd (1000+ posts) Thu Jun-25-09 07:14 AM
Response to Reply #5
6. The hypocrisy is indeed shameless and stupefying, but not surprising.
midnight (1000+ posts) Thu Jun-25-09 07:36 AM
Response to Reply #5
7. Listening to President Obama's healthcare discussion last night was not easy. I had to leave the room several times, but what I did hear was not what was good for the consumer. There was too much focus on rationing. There were too many people and not enough doctors. There were elderly sucking up the limited resources, and they should just take a pain pill and ..... The discussion involved an insurance man who was praised by the president. More doctors than nurses chiming in. This discussion was skewed into a fear feast. We have trillions of dollars to war around, but trillions of dollars to provide "dignity" to those who are not trust fund babies, is well too expensive. Come on America let's just make it happen. The change we need. No more talking. Just do it.
You know, I dunno. I don't want to get people all bent out of shape and upset, but for myself, the only criteria I have regarding choice of a physician is simply, "Is this person able to understand me?"
As long as someone is an M.D. from a real medical school, I pretty much have never cared.
In fact, I've always cared more about my choice of a plumber or a garbage man.
This is no denigration of the medical profession--no way, especially considering my own background--but rather acknowledgement that it just doesn't make a whole lot of difference.
As an infant, a little lad, and an adolescent, I never had one "primary" physician; all of the physicians in town at one time or another tended to me, and it seems to me their level of care was equally excellent. It was always a matter of timing, which one happened to be around at the moment.
When I was in college, in a big city where such informality is not always possible, I had for two years as my "primary" physician an.....OB/GYN, who got me through more bouts of pneumonia than I care to remember. I thought nothing unusual about it; after all, an OB/GYN is trained in medicine the same way all other physicians are trained, and more than competent when handling things such as routine ailments that have nothing to do with women's problems.
My current "primary" physician is a dermatologist, who has seen me much more for things not related to skin conditions, including, again, pneumonia, and the time the neighbor and I got hit by the marijuana-crazed primitive from Ohio, some internal stuff.
Usually one has to get a "referral" to a specialist, but my situation is different in two ways; I always pay cash (no checks, no credit cards, no "I'll pay next week") because my medical insurance has a high deductible that's never reached (not to mention one can get a really hefty discount), and because of who I am, always an object of intense curiosity.
My only criteria is, "Can this person understand me?"
If "yes," it makes no difference if the physician is into pediatrics or geriatrics.
Essentially, a physician is a tradesman just like a plumber or a garbage man--nothing wrong with that--and I've always thought this deal about having a "personal relationship" with a physician about as nonsensical as having a personal relationship with an electrician or automotive mechanic.
There's nothing special about it.
