Many in U.S. Receive Too Much Medical Care

From Yahoo News. Blame marketing--ads on TV urging us to ask our doctors about some pill or other, ads and articles in magazines explaining in great detail about drugs and/or procedures, blame types of health insurance that gets you in the door with the greatest of ease (I'm talking HMOs) and out the door at minimal cost, and the fact that doctors of all sorts have hung their shingle out on every corner (you can't swing your arms without hitting a doc-in-the-box in this town). Hell, even groups of one body-region specialty have begun clustering themselves into one single building: podiatrists, ortho surgeons, knee specialists, and sports medicine guys can be found in a several-floor-tall building, while across the street are chiropractors, spine specialists, neuro specialists, pain management, and more ortho surgeons in another cluster-building.

Health care is too easily accessible--now we don't even know when we really need it!

"Forty-two percent of US doctors believe that their patients are getting too much medical care, according to a survey published Monday which suggests fears of malpractice suits may be to blame.

A total of 28 percent said they felt they were treating their patients too aggressively, while 45 percent said one of every 10 patients they saw daily had issues that could have been dealt with by phone, by email or by a nurse.

Fifty-two percent said they felt their patients were receiving just the right amount of care and six percent said their patients were receiving too little, said the study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

"Our findings show that many primary care physicians believe there is substantial unnecessary care that could be reduced, particularly by increasing time with patients, reforming the malpractice system, and reducing financial incentives to do more," it said.

The United States has the world's highest health spending per capita among developed nations, at $5,475 compared to the next-highest country, Switzerland at $3,581, according to a separate US study published in 2007 in the journal Health Affairs.

Larger image here (scroll down).

Health care in the United States is a hot political issue, and President Barack Obama's moves to reform the system and extend insurance coverage to an extra 32 million people has faced opposition from Republicans and sparked court challenges.

Seventy-six percent of survey respondents said that concerns about possible malpractice suits were the main reason why they gave patients more aggressive treatment.

"Physicians believe they are paid to do more and exposed to legal punishment if they do less," said the article.

"The extent to which fear of malpractice leads to more aggressive practice (so-called defensive medicine) has been hotly debated; based on our findings, we believe it is not a small effect."

Forty percent said they did not have enough time to spend with patients.

While only three percent said their own style of practice was influenced by financial considerations, 39 percent "believed that other primary care physicians would order fewer diagnostic tests if such tests did not generate extra revenue," said the study.

"Almost two-thirds (62 percent) said that medical sub-specialists would cut back on testing in the absence of a financial incentive."

The results are based on a mail survey that was filled out by 627 doctors in the United States.

Seventy percent of the doctors included in the initial mailing replied, which the authors called "exceptional for a survey of American physicians."

The study was led by Brenda Sirovich and colleagues from the VA Outcomes Group in Vermont and the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice in New Hampshire."

Health insurance is largely an excuse for not taking good care of your own health--it's the magic key that unlocks doors so we can get those advertised pills we don't really need, or procedures we can live without. Without the fallback of health insurance, more people would start taking better care of themselves, and caring more deeply about what they eat.

I use it mostly as a tax shelter first, followed by the occasional few visits. If I could draw my own blood, and get access to the testing equipment, I'd do my twice-yearly diagnostic tests myself at home. Hubby's a different story--he requires once-yearly heart testing due to some congenital problems, in order to head off OTHER problems, but other than that, he's pretty much like me. The heart tests are expensive, but necessary, so we don't even think of paying cash.

Okay, mammograms are a different story--I definitely WOULD NOT do those myself! The way I eat puts me in the low-risk category, but because my mother died of cervical cancer 30 years ago makes me a prime candidate (in my doctor's eyes) for yearly mammos and Pap smears. I'm way too old for the Gardasil shot, otherwise I'd have signed up for it.

I would drop insurance on me altogether, but I just know that the day I did that, I'd get hit by a bus or something, and be subject to Medicare-style care, or worse...Obamacare.