This was originally posted to my blog, Diabetes Odyssey.
Today’s topic for Diabetes Blog Week is, “Most people who live with a chronic illness end up with a lot of experience when it comes to dealing with healthcare. How would you improve or change your healthcare experience? What would you like to see happening during medical visits with your healthcare team? How about when dealing with your health insurance companies? What’s your Healthcare Wish List or Biggest Frustration? Today is the day to share it all!”
I see a number of different doctors for all of my health issues. I go to the doctor on average 3-4 times a month. That’s just about once a week!
The number one thing I can say is that although the quality of your health insurance is a very big deal, the quality of your individual doctors is the biggest deal of all. If you don’t have a good doctor, then it’s all a waste.
I think as far as my healthcare experience goes the only thing I can think I would like to change is to get doctor’s out of the habit (rule) of throwing pills at every symptom. It’s a problem of laziness, time constraints, the pressure to make money, and lack of knowledge.
I understand that health and illness is complicated and the medical world doesn’t really know as much as they want the general population to think (there really isn’t a cure for everything) so they treat symptoms with pills while they wait for the root issue to get discovered and are actually able to cure something for once… But I just really wish they’d learn to treat these symptoms with more natural, holistic, less damaging, and less expensive treatments.
Human beings are self-destructive by nature. We do what we want with little thought to the consequences. And when we get sick we are conditioned to think a doctor can and will fix us as good as new. But that isn’t the case, doctors and medicine can only do so much. We must learn how to live healthy in order to actually be, and have a good chance of staying, healthy.
I have been a patient of many, many doctors over my lifetime. I have experienced both good and bad doctors. I will say the best doctors will take the time to listen to you and actually use the brain in their head and their years of education to figure out what the problem is and work with you to fix it for good or at the very least get it under control. They will utilize all avenues of diagnosis and treatment (tests, medication, procedures, therapies, diet, exercise, supplements, psychological/emotional, etc) and not just the easiest. A good doctor will see and treat you as a fellow human being and not just a case number.
As far as health insurance goes, I have had good, bad, and none at all. I will admit that bad health insurance is still better than none at all, especially when you have a chronic illness. But, obviously, we all should have good health insurance…and affordable health insurance! I’ve been on the end of health insurance where dealing with them was nothing but pure frustration. It was nothing but sitting on hold for hours, then having to repeat my reason for calling twenty million times because they just didn’t get it! They made mistakes way too many times, They lost paperwork or never sent it where it needed to go. They took way too long to approve orders or prescriptions.
I am glad that I now have very good and affordable insurance. Everything I need is taken care of promptly and with no mistakes, I rarely have to call myself because my doctor’s offices take care of everything on my behalf. It’s not perfect, but I am at ease and well cared for.