Florida facing collapse of primary care medicine

well. i can see that. deductibles go up every year, coverage decreases every year. my deductible went up, DH's deductible went up, used to be diagnostic services were covered 100% no deductible, and we just shelled out weeks of income for a set of mri's thanks to diagnostic services now being subject to the $1000(!) deductible.

the last 6 months has cost us our life savings. in healthcare bills. even with insurance.

this is a real sore spot for me...

 

Emergency rooms are also in trouble.

Use of Emergency rooms is up 25%. The number of emergency rooms is down 14%. See a widening gap here?

I think one of the primary reasons for this problem is the abuse of the emergency room system. People go there because they can't get an appointment with their primary care physician or they have no insurance. Take those two components out and what's left? People with actual emergencies.

 

There is only one solution to the medical crisis in the US:

We will have to learn to preserve the good health 99% of us were born with by adopting healthy lifestyles, and then die gracefully in our 8th and 9th decades without demanding futile care in the last 12 months of life when we are bed-ridden and cannot perform activities of daily living.

Of course a healthy lifestyle cannot be mandated, but no insurance and cash before treatment can be.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Godiva @ Nov 14 2006, 08:17 PM) [snapback]349174[/snapback]</div>

Actually, a group I see a lot of are people who are insured, and are happy to let the insurer foot the bill. Medicare and Medicaid recipients are the most glaring offenders.

 

I consider this article in the 'duh' category, but an awful lot of americans have yet to catch on:

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/healthnews.php?newsid=56764