I've decided that the Medical Industry is in collusion with the Insurance Industry to bilk millions of dollars out of the pockets of the American people. (Like this is breaking news or something!)
After leaving the work force, I was offered a COBRA plan that would extend my medical insurance coverage. My out of pocket cost was just under $800 a month, along with higher co-pays for office visits and care. despite all of my health problems, I opted to self-insure - in other words, to pay as I go. (I wish pain pills were over the counter!)
I visited my Doctor for advice on how to cut my health care costs. Amazingly, he gave me 5 over the counter medications that I could substitute for the equivalent prescription meds I was already taking. (Incidently, one medication was almost $300 a month.) He said I needed 2 other prescription medications, although I talked him into weening me off of one. (He told me since I was no longer working in such a negative environment, and my stress level would be reduced, I'd be okay with diet and exercise.) Then he told me that when I visit him, he would keep the visits short when possible, and refrain from ordering all the usual tests he had done in the past.
I thought, 'well that was sure nice of him to do!' Yet I began to wonder, how much of the stuff he had me go through, MRI's, CT's, butt probes, etc. were actually necessary? Why did I have to pay extra for medications that could be otherwise obtained over the counter in the first place? And why can I ween off a med that another Doctor said I would need for the rest of my life?
It makes me wonder.
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