THREAD: Snapshots of our broken Healthcare system. Without even approaching universal healthcare or medicare for all, these snapshots from personal life experience bring into stark relief WHY the U.S. Healthcare system is in a trash heap.\1
In December, I was hospitalized for a minor intestinal infection. During my evening, a staff doctor visited and told me she was shocked they hospitalized me. She said typically patients are just sent home with medication, but THIS hospital admitted 'everyone for everything' \ 2
During my 36 hours, they did everything they could to push every conceivable EXPENSIVE test on me. I had migraines, diagnosed 25 years ago, occasionally, so they wanted to run new MRIs and CT scans \ 3
Because I had smoked years ago, they wanted to do a full pulmonary work up and analysis. They wanted to do bone density tests because I am not a 20-year old anymore. NOTHING that had anything to do with my stomach. \ 4
I had to threaten and complain and generally become an absolute B to get them to let me out of that hospital. And, for their quest to 'add on' to the bill, after insurance, I got my part of the bill for $900. \ 5
Two weeks, my Type 1 Diabetic son (juvenile, diagnosed at age 11) had to refill his insulin. His endocrinologist wants him on Novolog, an insulin that lowers blood sugar within an hour of consuming a meal with carbohydrates \ 6
instead of waiting up to 3 hours with Humalog, an insulin of 40-year old technology that is much less effective at lowering blood sugar after a meal. For anyone that knows anything about Type 1 Diabetes, you know that these folks take two types of insulin \ 7
One for long-term BS maintenance and one for immediate effect after a meal. His portion of the bill for the better insulin? $393.00. AFTER insurance! Guess what he did? Refilled the less effective insulin because he couldn't afford the cost of the best treatment for his LIFE \ 8
And the most serious, a colleague with severe A-fib. Last week, her cardiologist wanted to administer a medication to control her A-Fib that had to administered under hospital supervision. Keep in mind, this woman's heart has been running on turbo for months! \ 9
Our company insurance, @Cigna approved the medication, but denied the hospitalization. She ended up in the ER a day later, was finally admitted, and had a heart attack less than 24 hours later. She remains in ICU today and is making very slow improvement \ 10
So, what's the point? We have healthcare institutions AND physicians trying to fatten their bottom line by PUSHING unnecessary testing on patients, feeding their existing fears and anxiety to bilk the system \ 11
And a system that immediately associates the word "Diabetes" as a lifestyle disease, brought on by bad habits, NEITHER of which is even remotely true to Type 1 and Juvenile Diabetes. Care representatives are so grossly under-educated about \ 11
the conditions over which they are deciding coverage WE'RE ALREADY PAYING FOR that they risk a young man's life by only providing the 'cheapest' option rather than modern medication that can actually improve his chances for long-term survival. \ 12
And, a woman whose healthcare provider, I feel, blatantly tried to kill her. After trying the electrical therapy to correct her A-Fib, unsuccessfully, this newer treatment was the best chance to AVOID the heart attack she suffered. \ 13
What do these stories mean for the rest of us? Whether we go with universal healthcare for all, or medicare for all, or we remain privatized, our healthcare system is a model of corruption, ignorance, greed, and immorality. \ 14
Our best hope for decent, affordable healthcare for all was the #ACA, but even that did not correct the fundamental deficiencies in the system that way it exists today that allows an uneducated, untrained individual on the phone to make life or death decisions \ 15
So, before we try yet ANOTHER way to re-imagine affordable healthcare for ALL, we need to burn this one to the ground and start over. Start over with DOCTORS making healthcare decisions, NOT insurers or even hospitals. Start by removing privatization \ 16
Prohibit the lobbyists! Not one penny to campaigns for ANY CANDIDATE from healthcare insurers! GET THE CORPORATIONS OUT OF OUR HEALTHCARE! Change it, fix it, and put PEOPLE before PROFITS at long last \ --
