7 minutes of medical care

Clark and I have a friend who is a doctor at a major HMO. He recently told me the average amount of time that a doctor spends with a patient on a visit is 7 minutes. In those 7 minutes the doctor is suppose to analyze and discuss the patient's ailment or condition.

The doctor is pressed to see so many patients a hour, so many patients a day while returning e-mail and voice messages. God forbid if the patient cannot spit out the issue (which may or may not be physical but could be mental or both in those 7 minutes). The doctor runs late and a circle of irritation has begun for the waiting patients and ultimately the doctor. There is too much pressure by health care management to use a more efficient system when the bottom line could be hit but many patients care is sorely not met.

I think about those 7 minutes every time I visit our HMO.

What got my engine running on this is some posts on Facebook today. I saw a new friend who has a horrible illness post that he, "is sorta sad this evening... Far too many people that he knows, or that know someone that he knows, are experiencing hard times and even dying because they can't afford to go to the doctor... He wonders why we can spend millions upon billions of... dollars to go to foreign lands and end lives yet we cannot spend just a little to save lives here at home. He thinks it's time to take back OUR country and our gov't. VOTE!!!".

Then I saw other posts and I share them here:

"Know anybody that this applies to? We have personally disproved this twice in our family, both Madison and Susan have received excellent care and major surgeries when we had nothing financially - money was never even brought up during our time of crisis - the hospital and Dr.s just did what they do... if these new policies go into effect you probably won't even be able to get the procedures they had done!
"

I was out right angry over that one. I know so many people who do not have health care because they have jobs with no benefits or have health care but maxed out their benefits in a year because of a stroke or a heart attack and do not have the money to continue treatment. Maybe they are unemployed and cannot afford Cobra or they are disabled and do not qualify for Medicare or Medical and the list goes on.

Here is my absolute favorite posting I saw today:
"We do not let poor people do without health care, it's a myth"

Are you kidding me? Ask any worker who makes minimum wage about their health care and what coverage they have. Ask any person who lives at or right above the poverty line what their health care consists of? Ask a person who is not eligible for state assistance, their jobs do not offer health care and they cannot afford it how much time they go the doctors!

I know for us if it where not for the stimulus bill that covers a percentage of Cobra (and I thank God everyday for that), our savings would be depleted and our assets gone because of Clark's cancer. When Cobra ends I am not sure where we will go. Clark will have to be covered forever with no lapses (preexisting conditions like cancer will prohibit him from getting future coverage) and if we have to sell our house to ensure that we will. I could go back to work but our medical doctor strongly advised me right now not to (taking care of Emma and Clark can be much). Our future is in God's hands but I will use my vote accordingly.

And again I will think about those 7 minutes every time I visit our HMO.