What's up with today's healthcare??
It's not often that I get angry. I mean....really angry. But when I think about available health care (or lack thereof), think about people who take advantage of government handouts that don't truly need it, and the lack of sense it makes of what Medicare/Medicaid and other insurance will and won't pay for...I get really angry.
Why is it that insurance will foot the bill to send someone to a doctor that doesn't have the expertise to help...over and over again, but they won't cover the cost to see a specialist that could help in a single visit? Why is it that insurance will cover the cost of tests that yield only partial results (like an EKG/stress test) so a doctor can guess at a patient's heart health vs. a complete scan of the veins, arteries, and heart that would provide clear and accurate diagnosis? Maybe if any of it made sense, I would have an easier time accepting it...but it just doesn't.
A specific example...
I've got a friend, Jason Fry, who was recently diagnosed with Central Pain Syndrome (CPS), which is a devastating disorder in which the part of the brain that controls pain and pain signals is hyper-stimulated. This is on top of issues he's contended with for the last 12 years due to quadriplegia. With CPS, his body continually feels pain, often at intolerable levels. He needs the care of specialists, rehab, treatment, and equipment that Medicaid simply will not cover. He recently was able to get a prescription for a special airbed that would help him heal, but without funds, he is unable purchase it. They would pay for repeated trips to the hospital, but when it comes to covering something that would actually help him get better at home, it's off the table. I just don't understand.
And then there are individuals who are suffering from chronic pain in which therapies like massage work wonders to ease the pain. But, because it's considered alternative therapy, massage therapy isn't typically covered by insurance. Pain medications are, though. So, let's cover the cost of medications that can cause addiction and have all sorts of side affects that they speed through in the commercials like auctioneers. Yeah, that makes so much more sense than covering the cost of something that has no harmful side affects and yields the same or better results.
Again...it's that kind of senselessness that makes me angry. So, how can we fix this?
