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To make all this worse, I believe the issues outlined may be magnified by distance from major urban centers. I have family in a rural part of the US and the qu

To make all this worse, I believe the issues outlined may be magnified by distance from major urban centers. I have family in a rural part of the US and the quality of care immediately available there is poor, with only marginally better treatment available within an hour’s drive. To have more options than that, one is faced with a multi-hour drive and most major metros where quality care is most plentiful is several hours away. There’s been several people I’ve known or heard of out there who’ve for years not been able to pin down exactly what the root causes of their ailments are because the local physicians aren’t thorough and/or knowledgeable enough. It’s especially problematic for those on the older end of the age spectrum who even if they’re still able to drive, can’t manage such lengthy trips on their own very well.

spondylosaurus 3y ago
Absolutely. Hell, I live in a major urban center and the healthcare here still sucks. Years of getting the runaround and "Wow, that's so bizarre, you should go to the Mayo Clinic to find out what's wrong with you" only for an answer to emerge from something as banal as a colonoscopy. On that note, I maintain that the opioid epidemic hit the US uniquely hard precisely because of the lack of access you describe. (And I'm always surprised how few conversations re. the opioid crisis ever mention it.) When it's hard to find doctors, when it's expensive and time-consuming to visit them, when tests aren't offered or are too expensive and time-consuming for people to pursue them, when the medication for the condition they finally get diagnosed with is expensive and requires you to jump through a million prior authorization hoops to acquire... of course they turn to cheap, generic painkillers. We're not good at treating the underlying causes of pain, and the treatments that do exist are too often out of reach. We don't have adequate safety nets. People need to work, and it drives them to mask their symptoms.
- freedomben 3y ago
  painkillers aren't even an option anymore either, unless you're older (by that I mean 60+), and even then a lot of doctors are adopting policies of "we never prescribe narcotics"
- QuantumGood 3y ago
  I've used Amazon's One Medical for free-to-members ($9/month) remote visits five times in two months. One referred me to the ER, another refilled a prescription at a different dose. The shortest wait was 30 seconds, the longest wait was about 18 minutes. To get the free visit, you have to scroll down past the regular paid appointment to "Urgent Video Chat", which is weirdly the free option, not a more expensive option.
quickthrower2 3y ago
Urban centres give you choice but not necessarily better doctors in general. You still need to shop for a good one. Reviews don’t help. Cost is not an indicator.

spondylosaurus 3y ago

Absolutely. Hell, I live in a major urban center and the healthcare here still sucks. Years of getting the runaround and "Wow, that's so bizarre, you should go to the Mayo Clinic to find out what's wrong with you" only for an answer to emerge from something as banal as a colonoscopy. On that note, I maintain that the opioid epidemic hit the US uniquely hard precisely because of the lack of access you describe. (And I'm always surprised how few conversations re. the opioid crisis ever mention it.) When it's hard to find doctors, when it's expensive and time-consuming to visit them, when tests aren't offered or are too expensive and time-consuming for people to pursue them, when the medication for the condition they finally get diagnosed with is expensive and requires you to jump through a million prior authorization hoops to acquire... of course they turn to cheap, generic painkillers. We're not good at treating the underlying causes of pain, and the treatments that do exist are too often out of reach. We don't have adequate safety nets. People need to work, and it drives them to mask their symptoms.

freedomben 3y ago
painkillers aren't even an option anymore either, unless you're older (by that I mean 60+), and even then a lot of doctors are adopting policies of "we never prescribe narcotics"
QuantumGood 3y ago
I've used Amazon's One Medical for free-to-members ($9/month) remote visits five times in two months. One referred me to the ER, another refilled a prescription at a different dose. The shortest wait was 30 seconds, the longest wait was about 18 minutes. To get the free visit, you have to scroll down past the regular paid appointment to "Urgent Video Chat", which is weirdly the free option, not a more expensive option.

quickthrower2 3y ago

Urban centres give you choice but not necessarily better doctors in general. You still need to shop for a good one. Reviews don’t help. Cost is not an indicator.