This isn’t easy to say but as I contemplated this question earlier today, my response was a resounding “No, I am not worth it.”
Not worth it at all.
I was driving home after a baby shower today and caught the last 30 minutes or so of This American Life, a longtime favorite for me. The discussion was about healthcare. The most intriguing part of the show was the act I missed most of. A doctor was talking about not ordering a CT scan for a patient because it didn’t seem like a cost-effective measure for this person’s particular situation. The segment went on to discuss how unnecessary treatment is a major problem and the impact unnecessary treatment has on rising healthcare costs and the overall healthcare crisis.
I'm just a big pile of waste neatly bagged.
I’ve undergone many expensive tests this year. And, I still do not have any real treatment for my leg and eye. My thyroid is being treated but to anyone other than my thyroid doctor, it’s possible it is not being treated effectively as it may contribute to my other problems.
This self debate comes on the eve before I receive my second head MRI of 2009. This imaging is intended to focus on my temporal lobe and ear structures as they relate to my need for surgery. My PCP ordered this test as a step toward a second opinion.
My scorecard
If we look at my scorecard for the year, the overwhelming majority of medical tests have yielded no helpful results that can get me closer to treatment. I can’t help but feel it is likely this will happen again.
When I consider my situation and the healthcare bills I am racking up, I do feel personally responsible. I do also feel that my doctors are responsible. As anyone can read throughout this blog, I’ve also gone for many exams with many doctors this year. Whose responsibility is it to figure out who can figure out the cause of my atrophic fibers type I and II? I have made no progress there. And today, I am limping hard.
What some people may not consider when examining healthcare is a patient’s willingness to be active in their care. If someone would tell me where I should go to figure at least some of my medical problems out and be done with it, I’d be there. I’d self-pay. Yes, I’d self-pay.
Perhaps before ordering tests, Doctors could do a more thorough exam. Talk with me more. Speak with my other doctors. Coordinate my care. Try out a treatment. Not pass me off. Listen to what I say. Remember what I say. Remember what they say.
Comments are always welcomed.
Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: | healthcare, patient, this american life
Makes sense to me…
I wish I could get some of those tests done though.. .can’t afford the tests that need to be done to figure out what’s going on… doc is having to go by basic blood work and it’s not providing enough answers.
However, if I were having all kinds of expensive tests done all the time, and had more than just my pcp and rheumatologist I’m sure I’d feel exactly like you do!
((hugs)) I really hope you get some answers, and that everyone starts talking better!
Wow — you always make me think! I love that about you (and it’s why I check your blog more frequently than any others). (Oh, and fwiw, I’m working on an email to you, too, that i hope to get finished Monday.)
What I think matters is what you’d do about the test results. If you’re getting them just because you want to rule out some unlikely cause, it’s one thing. Especially if you have no intention of DOING anything about the issue if it’s confirmed. (That’s my internist’s reason for not testing me for Lyme; at this point, there’s nothing she feels she could do with the information, although she offered to run it if I really wanted her to.)
Of course, I’m biased here, but I don’t think people like you and I, who are suffering and desperately looking for a treatment that matters are the problem. My insurance company tells me each month what my year-to-date medical costs (that they’ve paid) have been. As of Sept. 30, I was at about $27,000. Yes, that’s a LOT of $$$. But it’s not the kind of outlay that affects my husband’s employer’s insurance rates. It is, unfortunately, the $1 million cancer treatments or transplants or 24-week-old premature births that they go all out to try to save because that’s what the parents want.
And unless you’ve got true “cadillac” insurance, you do pay a substantial amount of your health care costs. Yes, my insurance company has paid more $$$ in 2009 than I earned my first few years out of college, but if you add in all the co-pays for drugs and doctor visits and the acupuncture that’s not covered, I’ve paid nearly $10k out of pocket. And we have fairly decent coverage. I have much, much more guilt about the money I’m costing my family than I do about the insurance company. But the best thing I can do for my family is find a cause for my health issues and, hopefully, a treatment (if not cure) that allows me to be productive again, so I keep pursuing it even when I want to give up.
*hughughug*
Sorry you’re limping and hurting so badly.
Wow – what an awesome response. I love your statement “But the best thing I can do for my family is find a cause for my health issues and, hopefully, a treatment (if not cure) that allows me to be productive again, so I keep pursuing it even when I want to give up.” And, you make many very good points. I am glad my insurance does not send me a YTD statement. I know that 2 of my 3 MRIs cost more than $20,000 each not to mention all of the other stuff…yikes.
i was talking with a friend yesterday about this particular segment on This American Life and she caught a part I didn’t catch. The role doctors have in ordering expensive tests (like CT scans) because they don’t want to spend time with a patient trying to figure out what is wrong through a review of systems.
I didn’t know there wasn’t anything that could be done about Lyme’s. That’s interesting.
I want us both to find treatment. I want that more than just about anything.
many hugs and I look forward to hearing from you. I’m majorly busy with an event over the next few days so if you don’t hear back from me, just know that it’s because I’m out of my mind busy.
I’m starting to believe that there is no such thing as “coordinated care”.