Bruce wrote in :

On Wed, 4 Jul 2012 20:29:31 -0600, Ed Pawlowski wrote
(in article ):

On Wed, 4 Jul 2012 17:58:56 -0400, "J. Clarke"
wrote:



On 7/3/2012 8:02 AM, Bruce wrote:
I have insurance and if I get a cold serious enough to warrent a
doctor visit . . .


OK, but that is not a cold. Antibiotics are a wonderful thing, but
often over prescribed to make a patient happy even if it does no
good.

However there are bacterial illnesses that resemble a cold. You are
being pedantic about the definition.

For most people if their head is stopped up and they have a cough
and sore throat, it's a "cold" until they get to the doctor and find
out that it's throat cancer complicated by tuberculosis and
pneumonia.

Call it what you want. The OP said he goes when his cold get bad.
If he wants to expand the definition of his illness, fine, but
doctors can't cure colds yet.

Take two aspirin . . . . .

Ahem. I think my point is being missed 8^)

Let me start again... If I catch some 'bug' that does not respond to
the usual home remedies, high fever, delirium, body covered in
pustules, skin rotting off, AND I decide I should seek the advice of a
professional......


Locally, getting an appointment can take weeks (meanwhile my oozing
pustules are staining the couch). Go to the ER and I get nailed with a
fairly high deductible (thought weighing the cost of that against
getting the couch cleaned might be a wash). For me, it's either suffer
and wait or fork out some dough. This is with a fairly standard
employer provided policy. For the Medicaid folks, there is no penalty
for going to the ER. Sure, they could schedule with their primary and
face the same wait a me, but since the cost for an ER co-pay is only a
few bucks (should they even eventually have to pay it), why not go
there? No skin off their back, the tax payers and me through higher
insurance rates pick up the tab.

It's kind alike the Medicare 'doughnut hole'
People who get the subsidized insurance can get immediate service
without financial worry. People with the 'Cadillac' insurance get
immediate service because that is what they pay for. Me (in the
middle) pay for the subsidized insurance (basically like saying "here,
take my seat on this bus, I'll stand").

It's fairly clear that the middle class get screwed whenever the
government decides to play charity with someone else's money.

That's why my wife hates to make checkup appointments. But if she says
she has a problem, she can get an appointment very soon. Of course, if
there is a nagging little problem, where on the scale does that fall?

In other words, have you tried saying it is a near emergency to your
doctor?

--
Best regards
Han
email address is invalid