I haven't had medical insurance for two years now, fuck um.

The cost wouldn't even come out of my pocket as it was part of my retirement package.

About five years ago I could barely walk, diagnosed with a type of R/A.

I could have gone on disability but that's not how I roll.

It sucked ass to work as it was a rather physical job.

I did about two years with the pill pusher, ended up on adalimumab which helped some, but still couldn't pick up a glass of water with my left hand without severe pain. Thanks to being right handed I made it to retirement.

I stopped taking adalimumab after about six months because my nose would just start running and wouldn't stop, sometimes it would last all day, pill pusher said it was allergies. Yeah right, maybe to adalimumab, because I've never had that problem before.

So four months of hell coming down off adalimumab against pill pushers recommendation, everything I ate would go right thru me.

I don't recommend stopping any medication cold turkey for the side effects could be worse then taking it, so choose wisely what you put into your body.

Today I'm up to curling thirty pounds with my left hand, where two years ago I couldn't lift a glass of water. Pill free except for a few supplements.

All my thanks go to this site for most of the information I gleaned here.

The only way I'll see a doctor again is if I wake up and he is standing over me.

Any advice on how to get blood and other tests done without identifying yourself to the government? I looked on the Quest Diagnostics website and they want my personal information to create an account. They want, first and last name, middle initial, date of birth, address, phone, & email. I don't see how to avoid having my information sent to the government. I'm all-in for being my own physician but how do I get the data to do so?

Those ICD10 codes originated actually originated in 1763, here is a great article on them. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/article....

The original intent was noble - to classify and track diseases across populations to better understand healthcare challenges in societies. It is now an integral part of the payment system across the US. We physicians live or die financially by proper coding of a particular visit. It is just one of the many unfunded mandates placed on us.

It is worth a gander sometimes to read through them. ICD10data.com. For example, in breast cancer, we have codes for each area of the breast, right or left, female or male. We don't have a trans-man or trans-woman code yet but I am sure that is in the offing. There are even codes for war (Y35, Y36) and terrorism (Y38). I deal mostly in the C codes (cancer) and D (blood diseases).

My personal favorite is X35 Volcanic eruption. There is X35.XXXA Volcanic eruption, initial encounter. X35.XXXD Volcanic eruption, subsequent encounter and X35.XXXS Volcanic eruption, sequela.

I guess that is how you would code the citizens of Pompeii and Herculaneum!!!

As to physicians standing up for this EMR crap. We tried, we really did. This was all happening in the early 2000s. What we found out was that we had really lost all control over patient care about a decade prior, the hospital lobby pushed for this to improve their billing and we were told to put and shut up so must of us went along or walk away from 10 years of training and debt. Would it have helped to "make a stand"? Probably. However, getting physicians to work together is like herding cats even when it is in their best interests to do so.

These EMRs are also used to data mine and match diagnosis codes with CPT/E&M codes and track billing. That is used by CMS to get a handle on where Medicare $$ is going and for insurance companies to do underwriting. We doctors get a scorecard on how we much we cost per diagnosis code and that is used to control access to hospital privileges and insurance panels. We did get some $$ to go electronic but it only covered about 25% of the cost of doing so. Many primary care or folks near retirement just retired or joined a big system as there was no way they were going to recoup that cost.

EMRs have spawned an entire new industry within healthcare - the HIPPA enforcement, data management & security, EMR software companies and the IT guys are smiling all the way to the bank.

And lastly, your PHI (personal health information) is an absolute gold mine for hackers and bad actors. One person's PHI is worth about $2000 on the black market. These folks either hold the info for ransom or use that PHI to put in fake charges, get paid and then disappear to the Caymans. Happens all the time with Medicare. Medicare doesn't even investigate until it is $5M or so.

I have long advocated for patients to have the system Karl advocated above. This would be great especially for poor people as they are often in healthcare systems with poor record keeping and continuity of care. A truly decentralized system where the patient & doctor are in control. I guess a girl can dream.

I decided sometime during this Covid reign of terror that I wasn't ever again going to see a doctor for any type of preventive care, or for anything less serious than a limb hanging partially off my body. I'm not talking about ignoring my health completely. I'll take care of my teeth and my eyes, for quality-of-life reasons, but that's it. If I have minor ailments, I'll diagnose myself as accurately as I can because I have a brain, I can do research and I can access reasonable meds through the alternate routes. Most preventive care is nothing but an opportunity for a judgmental moron with a God complex to convince you to get on the Pharma Poison train that always accelerates and never stops. No thanks. I saw my elderly parents suck down fistfuls of pills, multiple times a day and I thought to myself "I don't think I'm going to make a good old person. No way am I doing that." I'm so sick of hearing people say, "My doctor, this" and "My doctor, that". The concept that every human on earth needs to have a doctor assigned to them, attached to the hip, is just nuts. Live a healthy lifestyle, make peace with your God, be kind to others and accept the aging process gracefully. That's what pretty much everyone did in the past. I used to tell my kids to throw me in a nursing home when I get to be too much of a bother, because I didn't want to be a burden to them. Now I tell them I just need a corner in the basement or the garage and a fancy Japanese toilet that washes my backside. Throw me a few scraps of food--I'll eat leftovers--and I'll be fine. When my time comes, I hope I go quickly.

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"we fed them to jackals to save them from bunnies",
el gato malo 1/5/22

Quote:

Obamacare was passed in order to rescue an imploding medical industry.

What would this have looked like from a practical standpoint; reduced prices, fired administrators, doctors missing boat payments?

Tasha wrote..

... I saw my elderly parents suck down fistfuls of pills, multiple times a day ...

I'd wager that if you were to sit down and take the time flowchart out all those pills you'd find the vast majority (80%+) of them are to treat side effects of one or more of the others.

And if you run it down, in many cases it's probably a coin toss as to whether or not the original condition even still exists. And even if it does, there may be alternatives that could be tried that might not start the domino side effect chain.

@Tasha - hell yes!

When I reach that nursing home "age," just drop me off in the closest forest. We'll let nature do the rest...

Covid jabs are extremely safe and effective. They are even effective for the least-at-risk demographic.

Heres irrefutable proof directly from THE LORD.

https://www.yahoo.com/gma/covid-19-vacci....

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All The News That Fits, We Print.

New York Times

Ive had medical insurance TWO years since 1987.

Fuck em.

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All The News That Fits, We Print.

New York Times

Phoenix800: "Any advice on how to get blood and other tests done without identifying yourself to the government?"

Get your lab test orders through LEF.org (Life Extension Foundation, in FLA). I don't remember how much info they want -- mainly credit card no. and the email address to send the lab-test order and results to. You can use a 'fill-it-yourself-from cash' temp card. (They're like gift cards.)

LEF emails you the lab order (for any Lab-Corps, they're all around!); you go get your blood drawn, they email (and mail if you ask) the results to you, and to your doc if you ask. (I never sent results to docs I was working with: I hand-carried a copy -- so he could remember just who was driving this bus!!) You do not have to be a member of LEF to buy lab orders.

I'm SO not an expert in 'going gray' / hiding myself (hell, I've got/use Medicare AND VA!) -- so anyone with better advice?

When I dove into credit card points and travel and all (loooong ago!), one way to get extra points was to use your 'travel' credit card (to get the points on it) to buy 'generic' credit cards (VISA, MC, etc.) at, like, Office Depot. You can also buy them with cash. No name, no address no nuthin'. But: see para above -- I am NOT one to learn from on going gray! And the points and stuff was 8-9 years ago. Last LEF orders I got were three d-dimers spread over three mos last year. Also, a C-reactive protein, and oh, I think it was, maybe a fibrinogen? A year ago Dec. post covid.

STILL recommend LEF to get the lab orders... I made the mistake once, when I was treating myself (getting 'scrip writing' from a decent-enough doc) for thyroid. I needed a refill, and he/his nurse would NOT give it without blood test first. (ARGH!) I was going top run out of pills by Friday (baaad to stop thyroid support quick!), and it was Tuesday. Could ALMOST order the lab-order from FLA (this was back BEFORE email!) and get the test and then the pills. Screw it; had the doc order the lab-test. Got stuck, nurse is checking me out: $400!!! Whiskey-tango-foxtrot? So, credit card it was. Got home and looked up LEF -- EXACT same test (as always), exact SAME lab-test system number etc. etc. Buy through LEF? $89.

Rather than fight the GP who was usually willing to do what I asked (he knew a little but not as much as I did, about thyroid and adrenals), I attributed -- correctly -- the screw-up to MY not keeping track of when I'd run out.

But, yeah. LEF is often great!

"used by CMS to get a handle on where Medicare $$ is going and for insurance companies to do underwriting.

And STILL so many multi-multi-MILLION-dollar Medicare fraud EVERY doggone month!

@Blackcrow

V91.07XA: Burn due to water skis on fire.

🤡🌎

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Welcome to TF: The "T" stands for "Thoughtcrime"

Range- I hate when that happens.

These codes seem like something written by David Sedaris or from a Monty Python sketch. The crazy thing is that they all probably sprang out of an actual event.

@Tasha - From a general health perspective, going to the dentist and eye doctor can tell a lot. The little blood vessels in your eyes, if they are healthy, you are probably healthy. If your gums are a mess, you probably have some other health issues.

I too am trying to avoid the doctor. I am following the questions the vet asks about the dog:

1. poop look normal
2. urine look normal
3. fluid intake
4. appetite
5. energy level
6. overall appearance

If the above are good, in all likeliness, you do not have major health problems.

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'Power, like the reproductive muscle, longs to be exercised, often without judgement or right' - Gerry Spence

John Cleese. Strong work, always.

It's a mirror, but most people cannot see their own reflection.

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Si Vis Pacem, para Bellum

If you look like shit, then you are shit.

Quote:

If the above are good, in all likeliness, you do not have major health problems.

I get your point and I don't strongly disagree, but unfortunately, a wide variety of silent killers exist. Bob Marley died from skin cancer under a toenail (and some rather stupid objections to amputation that would have saved his life).

I had the same thing for many years and thought I just had an occasionally-recurring problem with an ingrown nail. I got lucky when my podiatrist retired and the new guy recognized it on my first visit. Cost me a toe and mind-bending pain, but it was on the verge of getting into the bone, which would have probably been a death sentence.

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Welcome to TF: The "T" stands for "Thoughtcrime"

The word for today is: Aphasia

https://www.news24.com/channel/celebriti....

https://www.cnn.comcomorgs.comm/2.308.1/....

https://www.transcend.org/tms/2022/04/br....


Learning a new disease almost every day ... probably all caused by climate change ...

Pretty sure the Bruce Wills bit in that 'transcend' article is bullshit. He ground out a bunch of direct-to-disc movies while he still could as his memory was failing, and he was speaking his lines fed to him with an earpiece. That was well before vaccines.

I lost my SIL to primary progressive aphasia, an affliction that generally kills you inside of five years. She lasted fifteen unfortunately.

The last several years were horrible for my brother and their children.

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No statement should be believed because it is made by an authority. R.A.H.

Full denial of claims.

Y65.5 Performance of wrong procedure (operation)
Y65.51 Performance of wrong procedure (operation) on correct patient
Y65.52 Performance of procedure (operation) on patient not scheduled for surgery
Y65.53 Performance of correct procedure (operation) on wrong side or body part

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It's justifiably immoral to deal morally with an immoral entity.

Festina lente.

My mother-in-law died from primary progressive aphasia. I told my wife if I ever get like that, shoot me. Seeing a very intelligent woman reduced to finding children's pop-up books hilarious is really sad. She lasted about 5 years, the last year she fell and broke her hip, from there it was like flooring the gas pedal going down hill.

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'Power, like the reproductive muscle, longs to be exercised, often without judgement or right' - Gerry Spence

"Y65.52 Performance of procedure (operation) on patient not scheduled for surgery"

The what now? Are they just pulling people in off the street and wheeling them in for hip replacements?

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"Every time we on TF talk about God and gays, God frees a banker and gives him a bonus." --me
"Your farts are interstate commerce and if they want to stick a muffler up your ass they will do it." --B

@Grf: Depends. What's the signing bonus?

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No statement should be believed because it is made by an authority. R.A.H.

[ICD10 codes]

Think I'll buy this as something to wear if I ever visit Kasier again.

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I want to see teeth flying as someone is beaten with a cast iron dildo hidden in a sock.