Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Gerri on January 19, 2011 at 7:30am

I live in a rural area with three endos & none are good. The waiting time for an appointment is 3-6 months. After being diagnosed, my appointment was in four months. I called the endo's office several times a week hoping for a cancellation to get in earlier. I've now turned my diabetic care over to my PCP. His son was recently diagnosed T1, so I'm hoping he's become more informed.

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Permalink Reply by LaGuitariste on January 19, 2011 at 11:58am

Three words: health maintenance organization.

I am a member of an HMO in Seattle and I've gone through FOUR doctors, each one more clueless than the last about diabetes.

I remember thinking, when I signed up for my HMO, "I hope I'm not signing my own death sentence." As a melanoma survivor, my fear at the time was cancer care.

Now -- eleven years cancer free -- my health stress is around the abysmal quality of their services for diabetics -- no continuous monitoring, no Byetta or Levimir in their formulary, dieticians that are about as knowlegeable as your average middle-school drop out, no antibody testing, no c-peptide testing, etc. etc. etc. They keep trying to push metformin on me even though I've told them over and over that I tried it and it made me sick, sick, sick for two years -- that I can't simultaneously live in the bathroom and work to support myself. Sheesh.

It would have cost me $800/month for doctor freedom (non-HMO) rather than $420/month for my HMO premiums and I got what I paid for. Sigh. It's not about quality medical care anymore -- it's about the "least bad" of bad options driven by astronomical costs. They have crappy (lazy, beaten-down or utterly incurious) doctors and a formulary that is so restrictive it's scary, but at least I have SOME healthcare rather than none at all.

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Permalink Reply by Jeannie Wagner on January 19, 2011 at 1:20pm

I have good communications with my doctor. There are somethings like low carb diet he disagrees with but he loves the progress I have made and wishes all his patients were as determined. My doctor isn't perfect. Most people are restrained by the type of insurance they have to use certain doctors within their plan to get the cheaper rate. Because we have high deductible insurance we have to pay the first $6000 up front if the doctor is in our limited plan, otherwise we have to pay ther first $30,000 if we pick a doc outside the Anthem plan. Some people are with HMO's and very restricted. Plus when you switch doctors you don't know if you are going to get any better treatment.

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Permalink Reply by Anthony Holko on January 19, 2011 at 4:54pm

So much for the freedom of choice in america. If your private health care is so restrictive why not go for a universal health care system as in most western countries.

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Permalink Reply by acidrock23 on January 19, 2011 at 4:57pm

because taxes will make business flee! I am kidding.

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Permalink Reply by Anthony Holko on January 19, 2011 at 10:15pm

I am amazed at american big business in the past. If I was GM top leadership I would have been glad if the Govt took away a major expense from my income statement. It is also better for people because without universal health care I would have not quit my job to start my own business it would have been irresponsable to do so.

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Permalink Reply by rick phillips on January 19, 2011 at 5:02pm

Mine knows where I live. He is a big fellow, and I don't fire thugs, I adapt.

LOL

Rick Phillips

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Permalink Reply by LaGuitariste on January 19, 2011 at 11:30pm

Well, just remember -- diabetics are the Sharps Samurai -- he should be scared of you!

We laugh at the blood lesser mortals fear.

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Permalink Reply by Zolar1 on January 19, 2011 at 6:06pm

I have fired doctors before. They are businessmen is how I look at it. You pay them enough and they will bend over backwards for you.

I had one doctor years ago that almost killed me. I fired him and got another one. Within 3 days I was in the hospital getting treated to save my life.

As long as my endo does what I tell her to do, I will keep her. Otherwise, I will find another doctor or self treat now that I know what I have to do about my disease.

Only need the doctor for prescriptions to get analogs. But I can easily use regular insulin if needed.

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Permalink Reply by Kelly WPA on January 20, 2011 at 8:30am

It might violate HIPPA but that doesn’t mean they don’t do it. A doctor is going to protect another doctor and they certainly would not turn another doctor in for it.

I have been in the room when conversations took place. The conversation itself was in violation of HIPPA let alone the fact they were discussing patients in front of me, but they happened. Some were by doctors and others by nurses. In the case of the doctors, I knew both doctors & the patient involved.

When I did HBO, I was having a conversation with another patient while we were waiting for the doctor to come in. I asked him if he ever ate salads. The nurse informed me that he could not eat salads because he had a gastric bypass. If he wanted me to know that, he should have been the one to tell me that, not the nurse.

This summer, a woman in my apartment complex went to her doctor and had a pregnancy test done. The nurse in the doctor’s office happens to be a cousin of the manager here. Guess how everyone here found out the woman was pregnant?

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Permalink Reply by Brian (bsc) on January 20, 2011 at 8:54am

Doctors are allowed to freely share information about you as a patient with anyone involved with your care, and particularly when you have already established a doctor patient relationship with both. HIPAA does not restrict them at all from talking about you in this context. Here is some detail on HIPAA. While they can't share information not relevant to your condition (diabetes), you should bet that a discussion of your non-compliance and attititude problems will be shared.

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Permalink Reply by Kelly WPA on January 20, 2011 at 9:42am

Yes, I liked Levemir a lot better! To be fair though, when I was on Lantus, I was doing one shot a day. I first heard about splitting Lantus and doing basal testing when I also heard about Levemir. My doctor asked me if I wanted to try splitting Lantus and I just wanted to dump it. A lot of people have said they needed a little more Levemir than Lantus but that wasn’t the case for me (although I was probably taking too much Lantus). Levemir only lasted about 7 hours for me so I actually took it 3 times a day. I also did 24-hour basal testing to know how long it lasted. I don’t think it took too long to figure out the accurate dose but I can’t swear on a time-frame! The Levemir was a lot smoother for me.

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