Comments on: Rare Good Column on Health Care http://liam-moran.com/hotsign/2010/04/19/rare-good-column-on-health-care/ Tue, 19 Apr 2011 15:26:25 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Liam http://liam-moran.com/hotsign/2010/04/19/rare-good-column-on-health-care/#comment-100 Liam Mon, 17 May 2010 16:54:17 +0000 http://liam-moran.com/hotsign/?p=2644#comment-100 I think a McKinley-type subscription based service should certainly be available to people--just a matter of getting the costs right. I also like the Planned Parenthood model, where everyone pays on a sliding scale to their income and they have a solid charitable fundraising arm. I think a McKinley-type subscription based service should certainly be available to people–just a matter of getting the costs right.

I also like the Planned Parenthood model, where everyone pays on a sliding scale to their income and they have a solid charitable fundraising arm.

]]> By: Karen http://liam-moran.com/hotsign/2010/04/19/rare-good-column-on-health-care/#comment-77 Karen Sat, 24 Apr 2010 18:49:21 +0000 http://liam-moran.com/hotsign/?p=2644#comment-77 I kind of think the student health system is the ideal: pay a set fee for access to a McKinley that treats the colds and warts and minor stuff (it would be fine for it to be staffed with more nurses and fewer doctors), and then pay more for outside care if it was something the health center couldn't cover. I feel like it does a pretty good job of separating the routine and cheap from the exotic and expensive. I really don't like the idea of paying out of pocket for routine visits (which I'm sure I'll have to do as soon as I leave U of I) because it unfairly penalizes people with chronic yet simple conditions. Like you said, I can usually diagnose and treat myself, but the medical establishment doesn't trust me to do so. If I'm going to have to see them as the gatekeepers for what I want, I don't want to pay extra for the privilege of them getting in the way between me and my treatment. I let them take out my thyroid for alleged cancer, so I have to be on thyroid hormone for the rest of my life. For practical purposes, thyroid hormone is like coffee: too little and you have no energy; too much and you get irritable. Since I live inside my own body, I always know when my dose is too low or too high. But in order to get the dose changed, I have to go and have a test. That test has backed up my own intuitions 100% of the time. It's expensive and unnecessary. I put up with it because it's free at McKinley, but I'd be much less willing to go through the legitimate routes if I was paying per visit to do so. I kind of think the student health system is the ideal: pay a set fee for access to a McKinley that treats the colds and warts and minor stuff (it would be fine for it to be staffed with more nurses and fewer doctors), and then pay more for outside care if it was something the health center couldn’t cover. I feel like it does a pretty good job of separating the routine and cheap from the exotic and expensive.

I really don’t like the idea of paying out of pocket for routine visits (which I’m sure I’ll have to do as soon as I leave U of I) because it unfairly penalizes people with chronic yet simple conditions. Like you said, I can usually diagnose and treat myself, but the medical establishment doesn’t trust me to do so. If I’m going to have to see them as the gatekeepers for what I want, I don’t want to pay extra for the privilege of them getting in the way between me and my treatment.

I let them take out my thyroid for alleged cancer, so I have to be on thyroid hormone for the rest of my life. For practical purposes, thyroid hormone is like coffee: too little and you have no energy; too much and you get irritable. Since I live inside my own body, I always know when my dose is too low or too high. But in order to get the dose changed, I have to go and have a test. That test has backed up my own intuitions 100% of the time. It’s expensive and unnecessary. I put up with it because it’s free at McKinley, but I’d be much less willing to go through the legitimate routes if I was paying per visit to do so.

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