Un-hijacking Your Healthcare

Being a patient is hard these days. Navigating the corridors of the system can be mind-boggling. And when the end of the maze is reached, often the conclusion is not what the patient wishes to find. Others decide what is best and place those medical shackles on them. Is un-hijacking your own healthcare even a possibility?

How to regain control of your healthcare decisions?

• Be smart about your health. Know the names of all the medications you are taking and why you are taking them.
•  Speak up! If you are not comfortable carrying out a diagnostic test or taking a medicine say so. If the doctor is the one prescribing it, tell him/her so. If it is the insurance company deciding what you must take based on their formulary, appeal it. People are all about eating healthy. Why would anyone put a chemical in their body that they do not feel comfortable to take?
• If you feel you are being charged too much, speak with whoever is in charge of the billing.  Sometimes, insurance companies deny payments that should have paid and are still responsible. These claims can be resubmitted or appealed. If you do owe a large balance, speak to the person in charge about any possible discounts. Whatever you do, don’t just pay a bill you feel is too much. You will never see that money again.
• If you need copies of your records, you should be allowed to get them in a reasonable period of time. There may be a small fee for processing the copies. In my state, 30 days is the reasonable time frame. However, I try to give them within a week.  I hear many stories from patients who were unable to get copies of their records for whatever reason. I find this unethical. Patients’ medical records should not be held hostage.
• Insurance companies deny many medical services in our current times. If you feel that you need these services and your doctor agrees, fight. The insurance company is incentivized to deny medical care because it allows them to elevate their profits. They will not change unless we push back.

In  the US healthcare economic system, there is big money floating around. Unfortunately, much of it is not directed at improving medical care of patients. In the process, the science of healthcare gets pushed aside while economic considerations flourish. There are few groups trying to take back the power in this economy. Patients are suffering yet few people advocate for them.

As it stands, patients are being lost in the system. Entities kidnapped healthcare and we need to reclaim. As medicine innovates, it is no longer acceptable for health insurance companies, driven by profits, to be in charge of which treatments and tests a patient is allowed to gain access to. Medical care must be designed to give patients the best care that is reasonable. It does not mean performing every test possible. But, those tests and medications that are indicated should be allowed. Doctors are in a unique position to advocate on behalf of patients and they must.  However, unless patients un-hijack themselves from the clutches of greedy corporations, we will get no where in changing this corrupted system.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2016 Linda Girgis, MD, FAAFP