Too Many Doctor's Visits

At least in the United States, doctors are becoming more and important to us all. That's not good!  I think the creation of those crazy medical insurance programs has made the "I have to go to the doctor" syndrome today and out of control one. I remember in the days my youth before there was any medical insurance that medicine was simpler and at least as efficient. In those days you paid $10 in cash whenever you saw your physician (usually some old guy who examined you in 10 minutes while blowing smoke into your face from his cigarette). It was cheap, fast and rarely were you prescribed drugs or tests if you seemed to be ill. The doctor most often said, "Let's watch it", instead of treating the symptom. More times than today, that regimen worked better than the expensive doctor filled days of today.

In the pre medical insurance days I once had an emergency surgery to remove a chicken bone from my throat (it's a long uninteresting story....but I still love KFC despite it). The total bill for the emergency room, surgeons, the operation room to remove it and the two day hospital stay, was about $700. Today, $700 gets you a one month supply of some unneeded medication the doctor prescribes when you visit a physician's office.

The system today encourages use, and more use and quickly overuse. The giant medical complex that exists in the U.S.  is like a fat guy at the head of the buffet line. It needs more and more food, in the form of assigning more and more medical tests and procedures in order to stay happy.  The patient is like the guy who is eating free in the line. Why worry about the costs if his or her insurance pays for it? Too bad the patient doesn't look at his or her insurance premium before deciding whether to not to visits his doctor for that sore throat or sneeze. The cost of the premium is enough to make you sick.

There must or should be an economic law that holds that as the patient believes he or she does not have to pay for the medical help he wants, that patient seeks more and more of it. What's amazing about the doctor visits is that the physician, who is afraid of being sued if he or she misses something wrong with the patient, always orders an expensive test or drug...just in case.  So the patient is forced to use drugs not needed and is impacted negatively from it.

It's true that often the medicine is worse on the body than is the disease. If your right knee is sore and you have to see a doctor, out-smart your doc by saying it's the left one that is causing the pain. It's because doctors always tell their patients that, "the knee you're complaining about is fine. You need treatment on the other one". I sincerely hope you don't feel sick after reading this.