Health System / Desperation

I want to get your experiences with the doctors/physios etc that you’ve deal with. Were they helpful, caring or just plain apathetic?

I felt a horrible pain in my right knee EXACTLY a year ago - and it is still there today. I saw 4 general practitioners who got me an appointment with a national health service physio - the only trouble is, my appointment is for february. That’s 13 months since the injury - this was all on the National Health Service (the free stuff)

Anyhow, I decided to lash out on a private physio (approx $70-80 dollars per half hour consultation) - six months later, no change in the knee problem and she didn’t know what could be wrong.

She suggested I get a scan … and they tell me it’ll be another SIX months before I can get scanned.

This means I’ve not been able to run (and I play 3 sports usually) for over a year, and likely won’t for another 6 months …

18 months out, because that’s the earliest I can be seen.

I’m 24 and I haven’t been able to do a single weighted squat, or deadlift or even a 30 second jog because of the pain and the earliest I’ll been seen is 18 months after I flagged the problem with them.

Its driving me insane - I’ve missed two seasons of sport now and my fitness has come to such a standstill that I have to stop at the top of a two story flight of steps to recover from the effort.

Anybody else been given the run around by their doctors?

Sorry, had to vent (and bitch) but not using your legs for a year will do that.

I went for the Men’s health 30 year old check up. Waited about 45 minutes. The doctor looked at me, then looked at the Old people and practically dismissed me charged me 175 + 100 for blood test actually $500 but insurance which is supposed to cover everything found a way to still get 125 to me. Then they wonder why I don’t like doctors.

I may not be decrepit but I would like to know how to keep my body in optimal condition so I can keep it healthy for a long time. I took the time to go to the doctor, he can take $175 dollars an hour out his time to keep my health issues in order.

[quote]Magicpunch wrote:
I want to get your experiences with the doctors/physios etc that you’ve deal with. Were they helpful, caring or just plain apathetic?

I felt a horrible pain in my right knee EXACTLY a year ago - and it is still there today. I saw 4 general practitioners who got me an appointment with a national health service physio - the only trouble is, my appointment is for february. That’s 13 months since the injury - this was all on the National Health Service (the free stuff)

Anyhow, I decided to lash out on a private physio (approx $70-80 dollars per half hour consultation) - six months later, no change in the knee problem and she didn’t know what could be wrong.

She suggested I get a scan … and they tell me it’ll be another SIX months before I can get scanned.

This means I’ve not been able to run (and I play 3 sports usually) for over a year, and likely won’t for another 6 months …

18 months out, because that’s the earliest I can be seen.

I’m 24 and I haven’t been able to do a single weighted squat, or deadlift or even a 30 second jog because of the pain and the earliest I’ll been seen is 18 months after I flagged the problem with them.

Its driving me insane - I’ve missed two seasons of sport now and my fitness has come to such a standstill that I have to stop at the top of a two story flight of steps to recover from the effort.

Anybody else been given the run around by their doctors?

Sorry, had to vent (and bitch) but not using your legs for a year will do that.[/quote]

You can get an MRI in the US today, probably within an hour, for a few thousand dollars. That’s the trade-off. You can have two of the three: high quality, easy availability, or inexpensiveness. But never all three together.

I have no complaints about the care I’ve received from any doctor I’ve ever seen. Their level of attention has always been commensurate with the severity of my condition. That said, 90% of my experience with doctors has been with specialists. I’ve seen my GP twice in the last 10 years.

My most recent surgery was scheduled 2 weeks before I had it done at Duke Medical Center. The cost for a 4 hour bone graft (anywhere else it would have taken 8-10 hours) and 5 days in the hospital = $80,000. My cost = $1000. The system works well if you have insurance. If you don’t you’re in trouble.

I’m with Steel - in order to truly reap the rewards of our magnificent health care system (because health care is a reward after all, not a right) you need to be insured. With insurance you can shop around for doctors, see as many doctors as you like (presumably) and get care at a reasonable price. If your not insured then your pretty much SOL.

Your situation truly sucks, since like most of us, injury means we can’t do the things we love like play sports. So I feel for you. I looked at this National Health Service that you speak of and I’m not entirely sure what kind of plan it is - is it free? Is it gov subsidized? Is it a bank account in Nigeria?

At any rate, I’ve been uninsured plenty of times and this is what I would do in your situ:

  1. don’t mess around with GPs, they’re good for blood work etc. but if this is a sports injury going to a physio is your best bet.
  2. You say you went to a physio. Great. She recommended a scan. Cool. Money permitting, I’d go for a second opinion and pay out of pocket. And then wait patiently for that scan to happen in six months.
  3. Or, if your insurance allows (or whatever NHS is), see if you can get an earlier appointment in a neighboring city, state.
  4. Do you go to school? Why the fuck are you not insured through the student programs? (don’t answer, that shits expensive) Anyways a lot of flagship schools that have medical programs also have great medical services that provide care on the cheap. You could look into that.
  5. Hang around a golf club and offer bjs for medical attention
    6)Try getting medicaid or some other similar government poor people program (i didn’t qualify b/c i had made $10 dollars over the cap - m*ther fuckers)
  6. Get a part-time job in some chain that provides you with real health insurance. It’ll take 3mos to get the health care going, so that might be null.

Lastly, if you think you’ll be uninsured for a while, look into a not-for-profit health insurance company. That will make things cheaper for you.

Anyways, sorry for the rant, touchy subject.

NHS = free British health care.

Discuss.

[quote]pushmepullme wrote:
NHS = free British health care.

Discuss.[/quote]

aksdfjdfjksdf

well then.

[quote]Mascherano wrote:

[quote]pushmepullme wrote:
NHS = free British health care.

Discuss.[/quote]

aksdfjdfjksdf

well then.[/quote]

Cheers for your responses guys. Mascherano, unfortunately I cannot afford anything resembling private healthcare at the moment - would have to be doing fairly well to be able to afford that.

Added to that the fact that I’ll have approximately $75k in debts from my studies (and with the job market making a mockery of me it makes things tougher)

But my general experience with our free service has been absolutely terrible. Until my problem leads to me falling down some stairs and getting a clot in my head, I won’t be seen to speedily. I actually contemplated claiming a non-existant accident just so that I’d be seen on a hasty basis.

Whichever way I cut it, it has affected my personality (becoming irritated and grumpy) and frustrated at not being able to do what I want, which is using my legs.

Imagine not a single sprint in 12 months if sprinting is what you used to do 3 times a week. AGH the agony!

EDIT: I say free service, but everyone who works contributes and in total I’ve put thousands towards it - this is what they feel my hard earned money is worth.

who says socialized medicine doesn’t work??

[quote]Mascherano wrote:
Your situation truly sucks, since like most of us, injury means we can’t do the things we love like play sports. So I feel for you. I looked at this National Health Service that you speak of and I’m not entirely sure what kind of plan it is - is it free? Is it gov subsidized? Is it a bank account in Nigeria?[/quote]

In the civilised world we fund healthcare from national taxation. Hope that clears that one up for you, mate.

[quote]Rational Gaze wrote:

[quote]Mascherano wrote:
Your situation truly sucks, since like most of us, injury means we can’t do the things we love like play sports. So I feel for you. I looked at this National Health Service that you speak of and I’m not entirely sure what kind of plan it is - is it free? Is it gov subsidized? Is it a bank account in Nigeria?[/quote]

In the civilised world we fund healthcare from national taxation. Hope that clears that one up for you, mate.[/quote]

And the OP can testify how well that is working out for him.

In the interests of fairness, my experience has been far worse than many other people’s. I won’t comment on the general situation (there’s a lot of good and plenty of bad), I know that mine is costing me at an age where I should be growing stronger, quicker and bigger.

Makes me want to punch something, but when I twist at my hips, the knees cry out in pain and I collapse to the floor. May be I should get a gun … ah damn, no guns here either :wink:

[quote]Rational Gaze wrote:

[quote]Mascherano wrote:
Your situation truly sucks, since like most of us, injury means we can’t do the things we love like play sports. So I feel for you. I looked at this National Health Service that you speak of and I’m not entirely sure what kind of plan it is - is it free? Is it gov subsidized? Is it a bank account in Nigeria?[/quote]

In the civilised world we fund healthcare from national taxation. Hope that clears that one up for you, mate.[/quote]

I’m glad I moved from “civilization” to America, then.

Michael Moore would have you believe that our “free” health care makes us some kind of utopia, but I dunno… You can easily end up waiting months if not even years to get a surgery done if it’s not acute. My mother suffers from some kind of neurological disease that they haven’t been able to pinpoint. She’s been in and out of hospitals for years, and there is always a long ass time between taking tests, getting the results back and going in for another appointment.

However that wasn’t even the point I was going to make. Nothing is FREE in this world. We have “free” health care because the government makes off with 40% of my income outright, then pretty much most of the rest through indirect taxes. The state department responsible for distributing money to the unemployed, sick etc. spent a THIRD of the entire state budget last year. I think that must be the reason they say this is such a great country to live in. We certainly take care of the poor and unfortunate.

We even give criminal foreigners a pension if they spend over a certain amount of time in our jails. lmao