I really hate doctors. No, I don’t hate doctors. They are technically good people. They are technically a boon to the sick of society. Thanks to years of schooling, studying, and practice, they are able to diagnose, treat, and prescribe whatever ills you. I relatively happy that doctors exist; I have gone to them from time to time for various ailments, and they have done me well.
But I hate them so much!
Ok, conceptually, I like doctors. Maybe it’s just American doctors that I hate. I am sure if I lived in Cuba, I wouldn’t hate their doctors. It is the environment in which they have to practice that I hate. Where do I even begin to complain? Should I complain about the pharmaceutical (thanks spell check!) companies? Should I complain about insurance companies?
I think I can go with insurance first. Insurance companies, medical or not, are like casinos. They determine the chance that an event or set of events could occur, then offers to pay for the cost of that event, should it occur. What makes them like a casino, however, is the fact that they have a positive expected value on your “bet” or premium. So, given that an event occurring costs $100, and the chance of it occurring is 1/4, a break-even premium would be $25. Of course the insurance company wants to charge more money…much more, especially since their actuaries are estimating the probability based on statistical data. It is difficult to get an exact probability. Also, the example I made up had simple numbers for simple math. Obviously, most of the time, a medical “event” will cost much more than $100, and have a much lower chance of happening. Insurance covers a large set of events, however.
Ok, so that is insurance. It’s a big gambling scheme, just like casinos. It is a business created to make money. So why do I hate insurance, but love casinos? Well, for one, except with certain errors, a casino pays me when my event occurs. If I bet $20 on black, and the wheel produces an 11, I now have $40. Insurances aren’t really that honest at paying their portion. On a roulette table, there is black, and there is red (don’t forget green). With insurances, there are a bunch of blackish-reddish(-greenish) areas that they might decide to pay for, or maybe they won’t. They have contracts, conditions, and exceptions that they say they don’t have to pay in certain situations.
Let me put it this way. Insurance is technically a good thing. It’s almost like a credit union. Everyone pools their money together, and those that need it take it from the pool (except you have to pay a credit union back). The inherent problem is that everyone wants the insurance company to pay for them, so that is why companies, who are very interested in turning a profit, have to make rules and red tape to keep as much money in their pocket as possible.
These rules that insurance companies have put in place have changed the doctor’s office and hospital culture. I was at my doctor’s office today, and the receptionist received a phone call. One of the questions she asked was “Is this the office listed on your card.” Then, “then Have you ever been here before?” And then “I understand, but we can’t take you today. We don’t have your insurance on record, and it will be too much paperwork to get you in today. We might be able to get you in tomorrow.”
No! NO! Are you fucking serious!? Ok. This guy on the other line, who HAS INSURANCE, is being told WE CAN’T HELP YOU TODAY because his insurance paperwork isn’t filled out, and because filling it out takes too much time. I don’t know what the guy’s problem was. He could have had a cold, or he could have had a horrible problem that needed to be seen by the doctor. In the latter case, he could have gone to an emergency room, but maybe he didn’t need that, or maybe he didn’t want to pay the much greater amount than the copay for his doctor’s bill. Whatever the case, he was turned away from the doctor because his paperwork wasn’t up to date. Doctors should never have to turn someone away!. Oh, and the receptionist didn’t offer any other options either, such as paying the full bill.
The point here is that the doctor’s office doesn’t want to take the risk of the insurance company not paying them for this guy’s visit. Hospitals are a bit more legally bound to treat someone with an emergency, so I guess I don’t hate them as much.
Then there is the pharmaceutical (thanks again!) businesses. Again, we have private organizations whose goal is to make a profit, not to help people. I can’t believe I’m about to site Michael Moore, but in his movie Sicko, there is a scene where they purchase an inhaler for what I believe was the equivalent of five cents. The US sale price is $150. Something is wrong there. If Cuba can sell it for five cents, why are we buying it for $150? Even if insurance takes care of most of it, and we pay, say five dollars, we are still overpaying (1,000,000% of the Cuban price)! In fact, if insurance pays for that much of it, it’s part of the reason insurance prices are that high!
If you have a pill, inhaler, salve, or suppository that is good for the general public to have cheap, easy access to, find a way to give it to them. Stop charging so much for it! I understand that research costs money, and you have to pay for all of those advertisements (why do you need to advertise drugs anyway?), and the doctor-brainwashing dinners and seminars (oh please), and free samples and cool pens. But even with all of that included, I’m sure we can bring the prices down to something reasonable. Let’s look at Merck. They are a big company. Google tells me that their NET income for the last quarter, ending in June, was 1,768.30 MILLION dollars. Holy shit. Let me read that one again. 1,738.30 million dollars. $1,738,300,000. In three months.
I quit. I mean. Let me look it up. It looks like they produce roughly 36 different medicines. And they make tons of money off of people with neropathy, people who are at risk of a stroke, people with high cholesterol, people with osteoperosis, people with HIV, people with diabetes, and so on. I can’t justify making that much money off that group of people. Listen, I know that you might be at risk of a stroke, and I can help you. I’ll give you this magic pill to prevent it too, just give me all of your money.
The worst part of it isn’t the people who can pay, and are ripped off either. The worst part is the people who can’t afford to pay for their medicine. I used to work at a company that sells electric scooters for the disabled. I talked with a lot of elderly that had to choose between two different medicines because their health insurance dropped them (due to deteriorating health), and they couldn’t afford both. It’s a total sin. They are pretty much given the choice of which way they want to die. Do you want to purchase insulin for your diabetes, or do you want to purchase painkillers for your fibromyalgia? I guess most would choose to take the diabetes medicine and spend their golden years in terrible pain. I would just choose the nearest bridge. Thanks pharmeceudical companies.
Well, I think now that I’ve gone from hating doctors to wanting to jump off a bridge on my 75th birtday, I’ll wrap it up. Essentially, doctors are good people that are placed in the position of having to operate for profit. Insurance companies act inhibit doctors’ profits through use of red tape because they need to turn a profit. And pharmeceutical companies drive up the costs of everything, especially insurance, because they are in it for the money too. Essentially, the medical industry is a wonderful concept ruined by the capitalist system it is forced to operate in.
Posted by magiluke 
Posted by magiluke 