Fri
May 2 2008
10:16 am
Why Private For-Profit Health Care Is Inefficient, Installment #28342
By: reform4

So, a relative of mine messed up her knee a few weeks ago, possibly a ligament tear. She goes to see one of the "feed lot" orthopedists here in town. I think she's in the office for 2 minutes before he starts handing her brochures about recovering from her surgery. She of course, rebels and demands to discuss other options (physical therapy, cortisone, etc) because the injury doesn't appear to be that bad.

Knee improvement has been slow, and now her shoulder has been acting up, so she decides she'll go ahead and have a follow-up appointment to discuss the knee and the shoulder together, and maybe even have the MRI for both.

"Oh no," the doctor says. "We only see one joint at a time. You have to make two appointments." HUH?

After all, why give up all that additional insurance money?

I used to think that a 'hybrid' government-private approach would be a good solution. Now I think that single payer is the only way to eliminate this kind of greedy double-dipping.

Topics:
CathyMcCaughan's picture

My mother had both of her

Submitted by CathyMcCaughan on Fri, 2008/05/02 - 10:31am.

My mother had both of her knees replaced at the same time. Try a different doctor.

Treehouse's picture

One joint at a time

Submitted by Treehouse on Fri, 2008/05/02 - 11:54am.

When I went to see the orthopedist about pain, I was asked if I was a shoulder or a neck. They seemed connected to me and I couldn't figure out what to say. They didn't know what to do with me.

Pam Strickland's picture

Have no idea who she went to

Submitted by Pam Strickland on Fri, 2008/05/02 - 12:28pm.

Have no idea who she went to see, but my aunt has orthopedic problems from her neck down. We joke about it a lot, but I really admire her for just getting bed everyday. She goes to one of the larger orthopedic places, KOC. They might make different appointments for say a shoulder or an ankle -- because of the immense specialization involved - but two knees are fine.

About two years ago, when I had some very serious problems w/ my left knee, I went to the same clinic, different office. They x-rayed both knees. When it was clear that the real problem was the left one, that was the one they treated.

Try another clinic.

Pam Strickland

"We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be." ~Kurt Vonnegut

Rachel's picture

Some of the offices do have

Submitted by Rachel on Fri, 2008/05/02 - 7:20pm.

Some of the offices do have specialists (e.g. the spouse went to see a hand specialist a few weeks ago), so if she needed to see a knee person and a shoulder person, I guess that might be ok

Otherwise, it's dumb and I'd find another doc.

Knox Joe's picture

I'm sorry, but I don't see

Submitted by Knox Joe (not verified) on Fri, 2008/05/02 - 6:14pm.

I'm sorry, but I don't see how a single payer system would change the situation with your aunt. Doctors learn to game the system and work it to his advantage.

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