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The affordable care act has enrolled millions on to some kind of health insurance plan. Even if you are stuck with a high deductible plan, oftentimes that annu
by dr_ 9y ago
The affordable care act has enrolled millions on to some kind of health insurance plan.
Even if you are stuck with a high deductible plan, oftentimes that annual check up (preventive care) is fully covered without requiring a deductible payment.
And, of course, if you are on Medicaid - you have Medicaid.
If you are relatively young and/or healthy, that's all you would really need.
As a result, their patient population likely gradually dwindled.
I was a proponent of dpc at one point but, now enrolled in a high deductible plan myself, i don't see as much need for it personally. I'd rather take the money and throw it into my health savings account and use it when i need to.
- distances 9y agoBeing from Europe, the concept of annual check ups sounds very wasteful. Is this what everyone does in the US? As far as I see it, schools should teach enough to keep you in a good baseline health and doctors are available if something comes up. What is done in a normal annual check up?
- lr4444lr 9y agoThey test for the symptoms of serious chronic health issues: blood pressure, urinalysis, blood sugar, cholesterol levels/ratios, joint reflexes, retina appearance, manual check for swollen tissues... things that might signal underlying conditions.
- losvedir 9y agoWow, I had no idea this wasn't a universal thing! Thanks for asking the question. From some brief Googling, it seems Canada also recommends against an annual health check, and I saw an article in NYTimes arguing against them, too. Fascinating.
- DBNO 9y agoFor me, I use my annual checkup to get data (i.e. lipid and comp panels, etc, hearing test, electrocardiogram, urinalysis) on myself so I have a baseline of what the data looks like when I'm healthy. Everyone has slightly different baselines, so it's nice to have a better picture/time-series of mine. Edit: I pay for the additional blood panels
- maxerickson 9y agoLots of people don't do it. I guess a minority by population. I needed to make an appointment a couple years ago and the woman on the other end of the phone didn't really believe me that I didn't know where my medical records would be (in the past 10 years I'd had some stitches and a tetanus shot).
- ams6110 9y agoI haven't been to a doctor for a "check-up" since I was a kid. Probably been nearly four decades now. I think for growing kids it's probably a good thing -- if nothing else to be sure you're on schedule for various vaccines. As an adult, I have regular dental care but I do not see an MD unless I am sick or injured. And "sick" does not include colds/sore throat -- there are good OTC meds for that. For most people, if you feel "normal", aren't gaining or losing weight unexpectedly, don't tire more easily than normal, your blood pressure is OK, etc. your health is likely fine.
- distances 9y agoJust to expand on this, Europeans do get doctor's visits every now and then even if there's nothing clearly wrong, as sick leaves extending a couple of days usually requires a medical certificate. This doesn't obviously usually include blood analysis or other such tests though. Disclaimer: I'm extrapolating from personal experience of a handful of countries, this of course doesn't necessarily apply to all of Europe.
- germanier 9y agoIn Germany everybody over 35 is advised to do such a check-up every two years, plus a bunch of different cancer screenings and twice-yearly dental examinations. I would say about a third of the people actually use those offerings.
- rincebrain 9y agoIt seems to vary between two extremes - people who do it and people who will only reluctantly visit a doctor when at death's door. I think the former stems from annual checkups in childhood. Some insurance providers/employers, I suspect for preventative reasons against the latter category above, have started incentivizing annual physicals, so this may shift, but the whole US healthcare system is in such flux I wouldn't put money down on any outcome.