Lack of Customer Service in the USA

[gemini5362]

It's the same reason why a number of professional people don't respond any more. Too many cheap shots from amateurs who think they know more. It ain't worth the trouble. Lots of good advice happens in PMs or emails.

It is too bad you consider those cheap shots. I asked a question which I probably knew the answer to but not for sure. Some doctors actually dont charge for follow up visits. But they are rare. The point that i was trying to make is that if your medication does not entirely eradicate the illness and you have to go back to the doctor for a second round then that cost is added to the overall cost of treatment for that illness. If you were able to buy the antibiotic over the counter without a prescription then the over all cost would be cheaper because you would not have to pay for the second doctors visit. That is just a fact. Personally I might go back to the doctor for the second visit because between me and my company I believe we pay almost a 1000.00 a month for insurance. My copayments are low so I can take advantage of going to the doctor when I need to. For people that dont have insurance that second doctors visit might be a deal breaker and they might not be able to afford it.

 

[gemini5362]

Of course he does.

Just like the mechanic charges me to everytime they see a car with a mystery problem. Mechanics and Doctors don't work with perfect information. Sometimes they just have to make a decision with the info at hand and see if it solves the problem.

My daughter had chronic strep almost every 6 weeks for about a year. Antibiotics only knocked it down but it would then come back. Only until she had an operation has the problem been solved. Taking the antibiotics was the correct approach to see if it would solve the problem. The DR should be paid for her time. Certainly the lab should be paid for their expenses. Many times we would take the kid to the doc thinking she had Strep and needed antibiotics. Often she did not have Strep and giving her antibiotics would have been a waste of money. Antibiotic can make you sick. They are not candy.

I know two people with Terminal illnesses. They still go to the doctor for treatment. They will not be cured. One will be dead in less than a year or so. The other one might hang on for 2-3 more years.

Later,
Dan

Dan you are in a way verifying the point I am trying to make. If you go to a mechanic and he works on your car and fixes it then you would go back to him and pay him a second time to work on it if you had the money. If on the other hand you were short of money and decided to go to autozone or where ever for parts and work on it yourself then you can go there and buy parts.

If you do to the doctors and the treatment does not totally eradicate the disease you dont have the option of going to the drugstore to buy more medication you have to pay the doctors fees to go visit them .


One again I am not saying that doctors should not charge what they charge or that they should not get paid for seeing patients.

 

[gemini5362]

You are not curious about it at all. You already know the answer and you're just trying to be insulting.

Ok now that comment is insulting. I am glad that you know everything I know. I have run across general care physicians who do not charge for follow up visits. The last time I had surgery the surgeon scheduled me for visits to remove the stitches and to see how the wound was doing. There were no charge for these visits. I do not know how prevalent this is but I suspect that it is not that common.

If I had wanted to be insulting I would have brought up a lot of the negative information about physicians. I have not done that. I have not said anything demeaning about you. Actually I have said things complimentary about you and your profession. I think that it is apalling that because I have a different opinion I am immediately jumped on about my demeaning attitude. The entire post I have had two opinions that I have expressed my opinion about. 1
\1. I think that the cost of healthcare would decrease if more prescription drugs were available without prescriptions.
2. There are a lot of people without health insurance that are suffering because they cannot get access to healthcare or medications. If they could get more medications without prescriptions then maybe they could afford to do that.

If anyone feels offended by what I have said then I apologize for that. But that is not my intent my intent was to support my views.


at least I have not said anything bad about the flag, mom or apple pie

 

[Wayne County Hose]

It's the same reason why a number of professional people don't respond any more. Too many cheap shots from amateurs who think they know more. It ain't worth the trouble. Lots of good advice happens in PMs or emails.

Did I tell you today that I love you?

Lots of good advice also is left silent.

 

[MikePA]

Did I tell you today that I love you?

Unfortunately, 'been there, done that' with giving advice based on what I do for a living and am certified in. It got tiring and pointless arguing. Now my needs are simple. I'm happy when people don't quote huge posts in their replies.

BTW, I've never gone back to a doctor to get a antibiotic Rx refilled. I called the office, the nurse checked and it was refilled over the phone. No office visit charged.

Father's Day is coming up and my wife told me I get to fix my FIL's new laptop. Seems he tried to fix it and made it worse. It's what happens when an amateur does the Dx and the Rx.

 

[dmccarty]

Dan you are in a way verifying the point I am trying to make. If you go to a mechanic and he works on your car and fixes it then you would go back to him and pay him a second time to work on it if you had the money. If on the other hand you were short of money and decided to go to autozone or where ever for parts and work on it yourself then you can go there and buy parts.

If you do to the doctors and the treatment does not totally eradicate the disease you dont have the option of going to the drugstore to buy more medication you have to pay the doctors fees to go visit them .

Well, your car analogy assumes that one has the knowledge, training, tools and experience to fix the cars.

In my daughter's case which antibiotic should I buy when she had a sore throat and fever? Often she did not need an antibiotic. She was sick but it was viral. Other times it was Strep. An antibiotic would be a waste of money if she did not have Strep. At other times she did need an antibiotic but the lab test would show she would need a different prescription compared to the last one. And "proving" that she had Strep would take not one but two different lab tests.

The average person does not have the tools to show they need an antibiotic much less WHICH one they need.

Both of my daughters had to be on daily antibiotics for almost a year. Not real fun. Guess what, they still got sick. An antibiotic is not a silver bullet. The Doc's have to run tests to figure out which antibiotic is going to take out the bad bug. As well as test to see if the problem would be fixed by an antibiotic in the first place.

How can the average Jo/Joe know which antibiotic they should get or even if they need one in the first place? Given the study that shows fecal matter is all over movie theater seats and some people use water fountains at Disney World as baby butt cleaning bidets. I don't think many people could manage to get a clean sample for a test much less figure out what meds they really need.

I don't have rose colored glasses regarding our health care system. We have too much experience for our tender middle age. A large portion of society are dumb as rocks. To let them self administer drugs whose use can effect everyone is just not something that should be done.

What strikes me as kinda funny is that for all of the time we spend at DRs, and we are at the DRs office WAY TOO MUCH at offices/hospitals spread across three counties, having to wait is not been a problem. Maybe we are in the system as Big Spenders To The System so we are being Comp'ed.

Later,
Dan

 

[N80]

Oops. Things better left unsaid. See below.

 

[N80]

The last time I had surgery.......

Well, if its all about money, how about doing your own surgery? Your own x-rays? Your own heart cath? Your own colonoscopy? Talk about saving money! And maybe you could get a pharmacist to run through the steps of a cholecystectomy or you could look it up on Google or WebMD.

Sound crazy? So is prescribing your own medicine. In fact, even doctors are not supposed to prescribe for themselves.

 

[gemini5362]

Well, if its all about money, how about doing your own surgery? Your own x-rays? Your own heart cath? Your own colonoscopy? Talk about saving money! And maybe you could get a pharmacist to run through the steps of a cholecystectomy or you could look it up on Google or WebMD.

Sound crazy? So is prescribing your own medicine. In fact, even doctors are not supposed to prescribe for themselves.

Well not want to talk about silly. The bottom line is that you have a viewpoint. Whatever training you have and whatever reason you have it is a viewpoint. I have a viewpoint that disagrees with that. By default you are going to win because I dont have enough people with my viewpoint to change the laws.

Well since you want to talk money do you want to post how much your gross annual income was last year ? I have no trouble posting mine.

One thing I learned very soon after getting out on my own. When any part of someones income is at stake they can have a lot of reasons for why they are right. Basically you may say that your buisness would go up if the government made it easier to get prescription drugs but we wont know if that is the case or not will we. Unless someone from one of the countries that has those laws in effect decides to post on here.

 

[gemini5362]

Well, your car analogy assumes that one has the knowledge, training, tools and experience to fix the cars.

In my daughter's case which antibiotic should I buy when she had a sore throat and fever? Often she did not need an antibiotic. She was sick but it was viral. Other times it was Strep. An antibiotic would be a waste of money if she did not have Strep. At other times she did need an antibiotic but the lab test would show she would need a different prescription compared to the last one. And "proving" that she had Strep would take not one but two different lab tests.

The average person does not have the tools to show they need an antibiotic much less WHICH one they need.

Both of my daughters had to be on daily antibiotics for almost a year. Not real fun. Guess what, they still got sick. An antibiotic is not a silver bullet. The Doc's have to run tests to figure out which antibiotic is going to take out the bad bug. As well as test to see if the problem would be fixed by an antibiotic in the first place.

How can the average Jo/Joe know which antibiotic they should get or even if they need one in the first place? Given the study that shows fecal matter is all over movie theater seats and some people use water fountains at Disney World as baby butt cleaning bidets. I don't think many people could manage to get a clean sample for a test much less figure out what meds they really need.

I don't have rose colored glasses regarding our health care system. We have too much experience for our tender middle age. A large portion of society are dumb as rocks. To let them self administer drugs whose use can effect everyone is just not something that should be done.

What strikes me as kinda funny is that for all of the time we spend at DRs, and we are at the DRs office WAY TOO MUCH at offices/hospitals spread across three counties, having to wait is not been a problem. Maybe we are in the system as Big Spenders To The System so we are being Comp'ed.

Later,
Dan

I dont know how often your doctor runs lab tests my doctor will listen to my chest and decide it is bronchitis. She will probably take an xray to determine if it is pneumonia. My wife has a lot of problems with sinus infection most of the time she goes to a doctor and tells the doctor she has had these before. The doctor examines her and gives her anti biotics.


Thank God that you either have the insurance or the income to pay for all those tests and medications. There are a lot of people in this world that dont have that luxury.