General Discussion, Monday, October 19, 2020

Posted on October 19, 2020 by Stella

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38 Responses to General Discussion, Monday, October 19, 2020

  1. Lucille's avatar Lucille says:
    October 19, 2020 at 12:16 am

    Stellars…Autumn Flower Arrangements For Your Front Porch or Balcony….

    Have a lovely day!

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  2. czarowniczy's avatar czarowniczy says:
    October 19, 2020 at 1:29 am

    There are now blood tests for both Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) and Fibromyalgia (FM). In the case of the former it’s awaiting further testing and approval but the latter’s been approved and Medicare will even pay for it.

    Prior to this, if your doctor even believed in CFS or FM, s/he couldn’t test for it as there was no test or even a standardized process for testing, your doc would just test the hell out of you over an extended period. Less than scrupulous doctors would start at the farthest acceptable test away from any possible condition that you had and slowly work inward, charging for each test and office visit. It wasn’t unusual for you to not get a diagnosis as there wasn’t anything they could diagnose. It also wasn’t unusual for you to end up referred to a psychologist or psychiatrist, depending on what your insurance would cover.

    I’ve had one or the other for a couple of years, my primary care physician studiously ignoring my complaints, dismissing them as arthritis or depression – he sees me for 29 billable minutes a year, barely scans my chart except for a few minutes when he first sits down and starts talking to me and yet he suggests a rheumatologist (whom I already see at his hospital-see what I mean about not reading my records) or a shrink to see, without pre-existing basis, if I might be nuts.

    I’m going to be asking him if he’ll refer me for testing, mostly as my testing him as I don’t fully trust him, his primary loyalty is to corporate and not the patient. He has to consider the ways to maximize the billing, many physicians already have software on their office computers that ‘assist’ them in asking questions in ways that will lead to increased billing options and referrals to the specialists, where the big bucks are. For that reason I don’t believe he’ll put in an order for the FM blood test even if I show up for a billable office visit. “No no, my good man, let’s start by ruling out kuru and RPI deficiency and move cautiously forward from there!”, he says.

    This is a loyalty test more than anything else, the testing labs have their onsite docs who’ll order the test and its legitimacy is verified to by Medicare and my secondary insurance recognizing and paying for it. My hospital corporate probably will reject it as they can’t monetize it as they can endless and pointless testing. One blood test and it’s yes or no – the standard way is years of testing and a possible diagnosis if…

    WE’ll see what happens.

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    • auscitizenmom's avatar auscitizenmom says:
      October 19, 2020 at 8:27 am

      When they can’t fix it, they want to send you to a psychiatrist. Women used to get that all the time. There was a time they gave women hysterectomies if they had a complaint. Then it went to valium and psychiatrists.

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      • Menagerie's avatar Menagerie says:
        October 19, 2020 at 8:32 am

        When I was 24 years old and healthy my OB/GYN told me I needed a hysterectomy. I never went back there, and in my mid thirties when I did need one I got three opinions and toughed it out three years.

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        • auscitizenmom's avatar auscitizenmom says:
          October 19, 2020 at 8:44 am

          I think you were probably wise. I still have my tonsils, although, I am not sure why. Most people my age had theirs out early. And, I still have my gall bladder even though a doctor saw gallstones on an x-ray and wanted to take it out. That was over 10 years ago. Some medication they gave me irritated my gall bladder a little, but I have never had another problem with it.

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      • czarowniczy's avatar czarowniczy says:
        October 19, 2020 at 11:22 am

        Oh yeah, then under pressure the medical systems adopt the new systems (remember when MRI machines were so expensive it wasn’t unusual to see only one in a city?) and find new ways to monetize them.
        It’s particularly bad now as hospitals makes they big monies on elective procedures and the COVID shutdown killed elective procedures, many major hospitals are many MANY millions of the dollars in the hole and are pushing electives to try and crawl out.

        I don’t see my hospital approving blood test until they can work it into their system and profit off of it – that’s not unusual for any hospital – I’ll just use another provider and do whatever ‘s necessary to get treatment.

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    • Stella's avatar stella says:
      October 19, 2020 at 9:41 am

      Maybe change doctors rather than go through this song and dance?

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      • czarowniczy's avatar czarowniczy says:
        October 19, 2020 at 11:13 am

        There’s only one other hospital group around and it’s even worse, it’s the one I had that not only missed my diabetes for three years but then misdiagnosed my kidney condition as congestive heart failure (heart’s great).

        The issue is the general process whereby doctor-owned hospitals use those primary care clinics as monetization portals for their hospital sections. Medicare, especially, is ‘on’ to this, they regularly nail them for billing and fine them but the practice continues.

        This particular hospital has been, since Katrina, been buying up or taking over other hospitals and owns about 40. If you get an outside doctor who hasn’t sold his soul to the hospital system then he can’t admit you, if you need a hospital or specialist you have to enroll in their system first. The pressure is on the doctors to make a choice as to which hospital they want to be owned by.

        I have some great specialists at this hospital, I picked them thru a vetting process I have and don’t take one my primary doc would like to assign me to – it’s worked out great. In the rare event I have to use an unvetted one who’s not in tune with me my 2nd visit is to another doc in that specialty I’ve picked.

        I also have 2 specialists outside of the hospital I chose over in-house specialists and even though I’m immensely happy with them I get pressure to drop them and get on in-system. Ain’t gonna happen.

        It’s karma, all of those years in health insurance with the Feds, seeing daily the true nature of the patient in the healthcare system and the scary things that happen to them swarming around me. Then again, it keeps me alert.

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        • Stella's avatar stella says:
          October 19, 2020 at 11:41 am

          Sorry to hear that. I have a young female general internist who recommends, but isn’t at all pushy.

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          • czarowniczy's avatar czarowniczy says:
            October 19, 2020 at 12:05 pm

            Is she part of a hospital system?

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            • Stella's avatar stella says:
              October 19, 2020 at 12:31 pm

              She hasn’t had to diagnose any mysterious symptoms for me, I will say that. However, although she recommends routine tests, she isn’t a testing Nazi. For example, she recommended a colonoscopy, but she and I compromised on a FIT test instead. Of course, I am at the upper age range for recommended colon cancer screening.

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              • czarowniczy's avatar czarowniczy says:
                October 19, 2020 at 1:22 pm

                I’m over the age but my doctor, despite no indications of any heed he’s on me like a diaper. When I merntioned that my lawyer said in passing that if it’s that important he should be able to give me a letter with signature stating that the benefits of the colonoscopy outweigh the dangers of someone my age having one…the topic changes.

                The day of the family physician actually knowing you and having a deep knowledge of your health are over. They are generally limited to a 30 minute visit for billing and that includes the nursey stuff they do at the beginning. You are to them the equivalent of a hamburger patty to Burger King…those green eye shade folks push them to push thru as many as they can in a day as billing returns are variable and the operation’s expensive. Notice how so many clinics in the lower 48 (that one’s for you, Tundra) are switching to NPs and/or PAs – one of the main reasons is that they each save the operation $40-to-$50K a year (and those are old figures) over a GP. As they find reasons to move patients to specialists just as the GPs do they are a saver for the operations.

                I did this for too long and when I go into a clinic I get flashbacks. About 80% of my medical visits are to an urgent care shop that is not hospital-owned so I get treatment for ash-and-trash items without the endless ‘you really should see our doctors’.

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  3. Lucille's avatar Lucille says:
    October 19, 2020 at 3:48 am

    Hopefully, prayerfully, the good news of hostage release will result from these contacts….

    Top Trump Official Held Secret Talks with Syria on US Hostages — Lebanese Minister Brings News on US Journalist and Hostage Austin Tice
    By Jim Hoft – Published October 18, 2020 at 8:54pm
    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/10/top-trump-official-held-secret-talks-syria-us-hostages-lebanese-minister-brings-news-us-journalist-hostage-austin-tice/

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  6. auscitizenmom's avatar auscitizenmom says:
    October 19, 2020 at 8:31 am

    Mornin’ all. Nice here so far. I have a chiro appt. this morning and a doggie dentist appt this afternoon. Then, tomorrow, I go VOTE! Guess who I am going to vote for…………….Pres. Trump. Awwww……..you guessed. Later

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  7. Lucille's avatar Lucille says:
    October 19, 2020 at 1:26 pm

    The debate commission showing their hand once again…dishonest and with no integrity whatsoever, and that goes for their choices of moderators, too….


    Video Compilation of So-Called Debate Moderator Kristen Welker Trashing President Trump and Pushing Russia Hoax (VIDEO)
    By Jim Hoft – Published October 19, 2020 at 8:54am
    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/10/video-compilation-called-debate-moderator-kristen-welk-trashing-president-trump-pushing-russia-hoax-video/

    Liked by 1 person

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  8. Lucille's avatar Lucille says:
    October 19, 2020 at 6:45 pm


    Rush Limbaugh Gives an Update on His Battle with Lung Cancer — Please Keep Him in Your Prayers (VIDEO)
    By Jim Hoft – Published October 19, 2020 at 5:03pm
    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/10/rush-limbaugh-gives-update-battle-lung-cancer-please-keep-prayers-video/

    Liked by 2 people

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