From my med school classmate and friend, Dr.Tamara Wetterman: Had such a frustrating day today. Nearly every patient I saw could not get the care they need due to Medicare/Insurance cuts. By time I left this evening I couldnt decide if I should cry or quit! Examples: a patient with compression fractures of her spine and significant pain and weakness due to it cant get physical therapy because her copay is close to $60 PER VISIT!!! (3 x a week for 6 weeks...adds up!), A patient with COPD cant afford her nebulizer or medications for it so she can breathe--and has had to go to the hospital twice in the past 2 months for respiratory failure (which could easily have been prevented had she had the right meds! Tell me which cost more!), a patient has been going without her oxygen because she cannot afford the copay and has been getting worse and worse and wants to die now (her oxygen level went to 78% when we walked her down the hall!), A patient who just finished chemo and radiation and surgery for breast cancer who survived that but cannot afford to go to physical therapy ($40 copay each visit) or to get her lymphedema therapy (as she told me, she should be rejoicing for her good results but instead she wonders if she should have just died), A young woman who needs treatment for her Crohns disease but cant afford it because her :Affordable Care Obamacare for her family has a $6000 total deductible! (and then a 30% copay after that!!!) And this was not all of them! I cant continue to look people in the eye and tell them there is something to help them but Medicare and Obamacare wont pay for it! The system we had before was broken, yes, but not nearly as broken as this. My heart is breaking!
Posted on: Wed, 06 Aug 2014 16:44:49 +0000