I actually benefited from being stuck in the USA and the effects of COVID on the local medical system, I think. When things started to open back up I had a procedure that was found by a...
I actually benefited from being stuck in the USA and the effects of COVID on the local medical system, I think. When things started to open back up I had a procedure that was found by a neuro-ophthalmologist taking the time to explain something to me using a whiteboard. While thinking out loud, and talking to me, he had an epiphany.. I ended up getting the off-label procedure that has seemingly cured me from a horrible quality of life. He convinced the insurance company and everything.
My gut feeling is that no one would have had the time to spend 20 minutes talking anatomy with me, then hours on insurance, if the non-covid parts of the hospital weren't so devoid of patients. My syndrome is 1 in 200,000 so no one usually cares after they say "wow, I read about that in medical school" - but I was one of only 3 patients that day! I think I know what concierge medicine feels like now?
edit: just for reference this is Washington State, Swedish system. Total cost for procedure and post op visits is $31,000 of which I am paying around 2500. This is on top of $430/month in insurance premiums. This was totally worth it though. If I got this kind of attention with this kind of result every time, then the US system might be OK... but really glad I live in the EU most of the time these days :)
This seems to be a major issue with medicine in general. People go to a few different doctors and each one gives them a few minutes and provides the quickest answer. Some problems really do...
This seems to be a major issue with medicine in general. People go to a few different doctors and each one gives them a few minutes and provides the quickest answer. Some problems really do require you do sit down and think for a couple hours.
Only 1.5% of American adults who take prescription medications buy their drugs abroad, according to a June analysis by researchers at the University of Florida Gainesville, based on a 2015-2017 National Health Interview Survey.
But that's still an estimated 2.3 million people.
[...]
Pharmacy staff in several drugstores in border towns in both Canada and Mexico tell CNN that they've seen significant drops in foot traffic since their countries' borders with the US closed. Though American scofflaws have been accused of crossing into Mexico for nonessential errands, overall border crossings have plummeted.
One young man working at a pharmacy near Tijuana told CNN that business had fallen about 40% since the border closed. He asked to remain anonymous because he was not authorized to speak about the business.
Technically, bringing prescription drugs into the US is illegal. But the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has created a gray area for small amounts: Importation "might" be allowed, according to the agency's website, if the medicine doesn't exceed a three month supply.
Staff at Mark's Marine Pharmacy in Vancouver, Canada, less than an hour's drive from the US border, typically fill hundreds of orders for US customers each day, general manager Jordan Rosenblatt says, and rarely have any problem shipping it. With the borders closed, online ordering has spiked, he adds.
[...]
But ordering online isn't for everyone -- there is always a risk that the medicine will be confiscated or that temperature-sensitive drugs like insulin could go bad waiting at customs or in US Postal Service delays.
"...Americans are trapped in their own health care system." I think this is a bit of a misleading title. For a vast amount of Americans, traveling to CA/MX/EU for healthcare wasn't an affordable...
"...Americans are trapped in their own health care system."
I think this is a bit of a misleading title. For a vast amount of Americans, traveling to CA/MX/EU for healthcare wasn't an affordable option to begin with; they've long been trapped in this system, it's just now that middle class (if that actually exists still) and more well-to-do Americans are waking up to the reality that tens of millions of our fellow citizens live with.
Yes, the headline is hyperbolic. But I think it’s entirely plausible that relatively poor people would be making border runs, depending on how close they are to the border. People in rural areas...
Yes, the headline is hyperbolic. But I think it’s entirely plausible that relatively poor people would be making border runs, depending on how close they are to the border. People in rural areas commonly need to drive long distances to go shopping.
I actually benefited from being stuck in the USA and the effects of COVID on the local medical system, I think. When things started to open back up I had a procedure that was found by a neuro-ophthalmologist taking the time to explain something to me using a whiteboard. While thinking out loud, and talking to me, he had an epiphany.. I ended up getting the off-label procedure that has seemingly cured me from a horrible quality of life. He convinced the insurance company and everything.
My gut feeling is that no one would have had the time to spend 20 minutes talking anatomy with me, then hours on insurance, if the non-covid parts of the hospital weren't so devoid of patients. My syndrome is 1 in 200,000 so no one usually cares after they say "wow, I read about that in medical school" - but I was one of only 3 patients that day! I think I know what concierge medicine feels like now?
edit: just for reference this is Washington State, Swedish system. Total cost for procedure and post op visits is $31,000 of which I am paying around 2500. This is on top of $430/month in insurance premiums. This was totally worth it though. If I got this kind of attention with this kind of result every time, then the US system might be OK... but really glad I live in the EU most of the time these days :)
This seems to be a major issue with medicine in general. People go to a few different doctors and each one gives them a few minutes and provides the quickest answer. Some problems really do require you do sit down and think for a couple hours.
From the article:
[...]
[...]
"...Americans are trapped in their own health care system."
I think this is a bit of a misleading title. For a vast amount of Americans, traveling to CA/MX/EU for healthcare wasn't an affordable option to begin with; they've long been trapped in this system, it's just now that middle class (if that actually exists still) and more well-to-do Americans are waking up to the reality that tens of millions of our fellow citizens live with.
Yes, the headline is hyperbolic. But I think it’s entirely plausible that relatively poor people would be making border runs, depending on how close they are to the border. People in rural areas commonly need to drive long distances to go shopping.
Border proximity matters for sure, and the calculus that folks have to do to weigh their options isn't easy nor cut and dry.