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Subject: Health Care
Why is health care in the United States so expensive?
Subject: Re: Health Care
So the insurence companies and pharmacudical companies can make a BIG profit.
Cat
Subject: Re: Health Care
Good question.
I have some theories...but if someone has hard facts, go for it, and don't forget to yell at me for pulling stuff out of my butt ;)
Frivolous lawsuits
Red tape
Moneygrubbing insurance companies
Doctors who actually do commit malpractice
Medicines ain't cheap
Anything I missed?
Subject: Re: Health Care
Yep, the best Drs and medication available in the world.
I tell you, if people wouldn't insist on living so darn long we could cut down signifigantly on health care. ;)
Quoting:
Good question.
I have some theories...but if someone has hard facts, go for it, and don't forget to yell at me for pulling stuff out of my butt ;)
Frivolous lawsuits
Red tape
Moneygrubbing insurance companies
Doctors who actually do commit malpractice
Medicines ain't cheap
Anything I missed?
End Quote
Subject: Re: Health Care
Here's one of the things about health care in America I don't understand. The metro area has a million some people. Six or seven major hospitals. Every hospital has an MRI machine... most have two, or three, or four.
The weird thing is, although every hospital has to have a handful of these expensive toys, the price for having an MRI has gone UP. If your neighborhood had one fully equipped barber, you'd expect to pay through the nose for a haircut. But if there was a barbershop on every corner, competition would drive the cost down and down. It's the law of the market. Why doesn't it apply to healthcare?
Subject: Re: Health Care
It is called GREED, my friend. Plain and simple. They do it because they CAN.
Cat
Subject: Re: Health Care
I concur. You don't need to get a haircut. But health care is essential, so they can charge whatever they like.
Subject: Re: Health Care
Because somone on going to pay, be it Health Insurance or the Gvmt. Did you know that you can have health care bills audited for cheap and pay what the auditor states is a fare cost? We use an agency for our work injury claims we pay out and they regulary cut off a third of the billing. How much do we pay for the service? $5 a line item. You have a $40,000+ bill, that's some good savings.
Quoting:
Here's one of the things about health care in America I don't understand. The metro area has a million some people. Six or seven major hospitals. Every hospital has an MRI machine... most have two, or three, or four.
The weird thing is, although every hospital has to have a handful of these expensive toys, the price for having an MRI has gone UP. If your neighborhood had one fully equipped barber, you'd expect to pay through the nose for a haircut. But if there was a barbershop on every corner, competition would drive the cost down and down. It's the law of the market. Why doesn't it apply to healthcare?
End Quote
Subject: Re: Health Care
... and don't forget that there are plenty of people who just don't pay for services rendered and the rest of us eat up the cost. I've seen people go to the emergency room for non-emergent reasons and then just leave after they are treated. Not only do they take up the time and space for real emergencies, but they also drain the resources to treat the rest of the paying patients. Socialized medicine doesn't sound like the soultion that we need. What we need is for people to get the idea that in a free-market society as this one is purported to be, one is to pay for their own choices of lifestyle (example: if you'd rather pay for a cell-phone rather than your co-pay, then it is through no fault of anybody else that you don't have the proper healthcare). A simple example, of course, and it doesn't encompass the entire problem, but it does address a part of it that people for socialized medicine never bring up. Socialized medicine works better in second-world and third-world nations on their way to implementing a capitalist policies as they become more industrialized (that is why Cuba still provides the best medical care for its citizens above the rest of the third-world nations). The only objections I can think of at the moment would be the tax-payer/government funding for research projects into new medicine, which will then be charged to said tax-payers at exhorbitant prices and sometimes the rubber-stamp behaviour of the FDA when it comes to approving new medicines even at the cost of human lives. The role of government with a capitalist economy is to represent, not to dictate and choose for it's individuals. If greed is what oils the cogs of such machinery, then greed it is (the mother of invention for all you entrepreneurs out there ;) ).
The US still has the best medicine in the world. How much is your health worth to you?
Subject: Re: Health Care
Actually, it's not really the insurance companies making the big bucks, it's the pharmaceutical companies and health care providers.
Subject: Re: Health Care
Quoting:
Actually, it's not really the insurance companies making the big bucks, it's the pharmaceutical companies and health care providers.
End Quote
Do you know how much PacifiCare's CEO gets as a bonus? Even if the company loses money, the guy makes a couple of Mill just as a bonus. Oh, insurance companies make big bucks. It makes me regret not investing in Aetna and FHP (before it folded)...
Subject: Re: Health Care
I used to work for one of the major insurance companies, and they weren't making money. That's one of the reasons I no longer work there. I will admit that some of them do, but the pharmaceutical companies and providers are the ones who make a killing.
Subject: Re: Health Care
Health care is only expensive if you don't have insurance. Then the cost varies of course depending on which plan you belong to. HMO's are fairly cheap with realtively low co-payments. I belong to a PPO and pay $112 a month for both myself and my son. Not too bad considering what would happen to me financially if we had big time trauma with no coverage. I would guess one reason for major cost (besides the obvious...to make crap-loads of money) is to compensate for those without insurance who decide not to pay their bills. If I were a doctor treating patients with state funded insurance plans (especially Medi-Cal and low income family HMO's) I'd charge more to the people I could do so to just to make up for the unbelieveably low reimbursement rates. Just like everything else, it's all about the benjamins!!
Subject: Re: Health Care
Quoting:
Actually, it's not really the insurance companies making the big bucks, it's the pharmaceutical companies and health care providers.
End Quote
But doesn't the pharmaceutical industry have to make big profits, so they can funnel the money into research and development?
Subject: Re: Health Care
Quoting:
But doesn't the pharmaceutical industry have to make big profits, so they can funnel the money into research and development?
End Quote
Yes, they most definitely do. Research is very expensive, but it's important. Anyone who's ever worked in a research lab knows how grueling it is to make a breakthrough, or even a small baby step.
Subject: Re: Health Care
I have to agree with Ghost about the people that use our hosptials for their PCP and not just emergencies. The hospital in the town I used to live in was covered constantly by people with nothing more than a cold or a fever when they could have used the 24 hour clinic next door. But when you walk into the ER you are not required to pay anything and then most never pay when they do receive the bill. So it does come back to bite us people that do pay our bills...we pay for ours....and the 20 people that refuse to pay theirs.
Subject: Re: Health Care
Quoting:
It is called GREED, my friend. Plain and simple. They do it because they CAN.
Cat
End Quote
It is more than greed, it is the culture which says money is more important than people. Pharmasutical companies are run the same way other corporations are run, like enron and arthur anderson. They only care about the bottom line.
And what I think is criminal is the patenting of gene sequences. So if you have a disease which is caused by a gene sequence which some company compywrited, nobody can make drugs to cure your disease except the compnay which holds the patent. This is wrong!
Subject: Re: Health Care
But money is important. The ability to make a lot money is what makes this country the envy of the world. It would be good if everyone could succeed, but this system depends on having both the haves and the have-nots. Is it cruel to think of it this way? I wouldn't like think so. It's realistic thinking. It's pragmatic thinking. The same thinking which reformists in China had to fix because idealists like Mao couldn't think about the bottom line. The world is not black and white. Why is it that we cannot be humans with emotions who can also think objectively and be practical?
What is wrong with a patent if one puts all of his/her efforts and work into it? Gene sequencing is hard! Not everyone can just come off the street and do it. It takes people with the know-how and the will to do it (for a loooooong time, without the knowledge of success!), so how is one to protect their work from getting ripped off? Without patents and rewards for hard work and ingenuity, why do anything at all? Why not just sit back and depend on our fellow citizens to carry one's weight (which is what is happening with our health care system)? There is a reason why the US has the best medicine money can buy and the rest of the world looks to us for scientific discoveries. Why is health care in the US so expensive? Besides the problematic aspects, it's expensive because it is the best in the world - and people are unappreciative of all it takes to make it happen.
Money matters. Sure, medical providers, pharmaceutical cos., and insurance cos. make a killing in profits. What's wrong with that? Why are profits suddenly bad? Would it make them more noble if they were to take a vow of poverty and try to save the world from itself? Greed is not good. Greed is also not bad. Greed is part of our intrinsic nature. It is part of who we are. Most everyone is afforded the chance to do almost anything in this society (more than in any other place). If one doesn't want to make money, doesn't want to work, or put any effort into anything then that's fine, but to want to stop others from wanting to do so is confining and stiffling.
Subject: Re: Health Care
Quoting:
But money is important. The ability to make a lot money is what makes this country the envy of the world. It would be good if everyone could succeed, but this system depends on having both the haves and the have-nots. Is it cruel to think of it this way? I wouldn't like think so. It's realistic thinking. It's pragmatic thinking. The same thinking which reformists in China had to fix because idealists like Mao couldn't think about the bottom line. The world is not black and white. Why is it that we cannot be humans with emotions who can also think objectively and be practical?
What is wrong with a patent if one puts all of his/her efforts and work into it? Gene sequencing is hard! Not everyone can just come off the street and do it. It takes people with the know-how and the will to do it (for a loooooong time, without the knowledge of success!), so how is one to protect their work from getting ripped off? Without patents and rewards for hard work and ingenuity, why do anything at all? Why not just sit back and depend on our fellow citizens to carry one's weight (which is what is happening with our health care system)? There is a reason why the US has the best medicine money can buy and the rest of the world looks to us for scientific discoveries. Why is health care in the US so expensive? Besides the problematic aspects, it's expensive because it is the best in the world - and people are unappreciative of all it takes to make it happen.
Money matters. Sure, medical providers, pharmaceutical cos., and insurance cos. make a killing in profits. What's wrong with that? Why are profits suddenly bad? Would it make them more noble if they were to take a vow of poverty and try to save the world from itself? Greed is not good. Greed is also not bad. Greed is part of our intrinsic nature. It is part of who we are. Most everyone is afforded the chance to do almost anything in this society (more than in any other place). If one doesn't want to make money, doesn't want to work, or put any effort into anything then that's fine, but to want to stop others from wanting to do so is confining and stiffling.
End Quote
::) ::) ::) You can not use money to justify doing evil things. If someone is sick and they need help, there is a moral obligation to help them. Do not forget, companies like enron screwd 1000's of people out of pensions they earned and worked for so a few at the top could make more money. Medicine is turning out to be the same way. Doctors can no longer treat people, they have to deal with insurance companies instead which tells doctors "Do not prescribe expensive procedures without a buisness person approving it or be dropped from our network". That is wrong. You can try and justify it any way you want to, but if you tell a sick person to go and die in pain when they could have been helped, that is immoral.
Subject: Re: Health Care
I also remember the saying: "You can't take it with you when you die."
I also can not help but have the following thought/observation. I know some people who have a family which used to be wealthy. Somewhere in the family tree, the money was wasted and one of the kids was left living in a shack trying to scrape up enough money to get dinner. Wouldn't it be funny, if the most sucessful of people who think health care should not be funded had kids which blew the money and grandkids which needed the help?
Subject: Re: Health Care
What an interesting topic. My business supports a surgery center and 5 individual private practices.
Let me assure you, it's not only us poor patients who are frustrated with the health care costs. Doctors are getting rectal flesh injections, right along with the rest of us. Let's say a doctor schedule's a procedure that the insurance company says should take 15 minutes. But complications occur and the procedure actually took two hours. How much do you think the doctor gets? 15 minutes! Not a second more. But with surgery, it's not like psychiatry where you can say...whelp...time's up!
And furthermore, Doctors have this stereo type of being rich, greedy, golf enthusiasts more concerned with their golf swing then they are with your condition.
I'm in the process of helping a new practice find some reasonably priced practice management software. But these vultures think MD stands for Millions of Dollars. All I want is a decent scheduler and billing program. I'm about ready to custom design quicbooks and a palm pilot. Oh...but wait...there's another problem with that. HIPAA. Apparantly, we're not all mature enough to handle our practices on our own. We need the government to tell us how to manage our data, so I can't do that for them.
Bottom line...Doctors aren't allowed to take pride in their work anymore... Maybe I'm exaggerating. But it sure seems that way :(
Subject: Re: Health Care
Quoting:
::) ::) ::) You can not use money to justify doing evil things. End Quote
But then, what is termed as "good" and "evil" is subjective. How is wanting to make money by being successful at what you do "evil" is beyond me. Fine. Evil it is.
Quoting:If someone is sick and they need help, there is a moral obligation to help them. End Quote
I give blood (even before 09-11). I also donate to the Red Cross and ASF (an AIDS foundation). It's all I can do. I don't have a lot of money.
Still, if a large portion of people don't want to pay for their treatment because they either do not plan ahead and prepare or just do not care about paying the bills, then the government will sign me in to pay for them!
One way or the other, I help a lot of people. So much for my evil money-making ways. I'd think more people would want me to make more money so that I may support more fellow citizens.
Quoting:Do not forget, companies like enron screwd 1000's of people out of pensions they earned and worked for so a few at the top could make more money. Medicine is turning out to be the same way.End Quote
Name three instances in the medical field where an insurance co. and its medical providers have screwed 1000s of people in their programme. I wish I could cite them myself...
Quoting:Doctors can no longer treat people, they have to deal with insurance companies instead which tells doctors "Do not prescribe expensive procedures without a buisness person approving it or be dropped from our network." That is wrong. You can try and justify it any way you want to, but if you tell a sick person to go and die in pain when they could have been helped, that is immoral.
End Quote
Yes. It happens. I'm not going to deny that. Bad things will happen anyway. It is immoral and that's life. I still don't see how the government volunteering our money is going to aid in all this. As far as I know, Europe sometimes send their critical patients here to get life-saving procedures done which might otherwise not have been done in their respective country.
A lot of us do things for the love of it AND for the money. The rest just do it for the money ('cause they hate their jobs!).
Subject: Re: Health Care
Quoting:
Bottom line...Doctors aren't allowed to take pride in their work anymore... Maybe I'm exaggerating. But it sure seems that way :(
End Quote
Doctors should be allowed to make a great living. They should have lots of respect for what they do. They save lives and help sick people get better. I have no problem with doctors making lots of money. My problem is with the insurance companies. They are evil. They do not see medicine as treating sick people, they see medicine as a buisness. The part I posted about buisness managers deciding what treatments paitents get was not BS, it really does happen. Need a CAT scan? The doctor can not just send you to get one, he has to have approval from the insurance company. And guess what many of these insurance companies are telling doctors: "you cost us money and we will not have you as a partner anymore".
There is alot government could do to help. One, make it so people can go to any doctor they want to see, not the ones the insurance companys tell you to go to. Secondly, let people get second opinions from doctors not affiliated with insurance programs, and if that second doctor says you need a procedure, then you should get the procedure. I am not talking about liposuction here, I am talking about things like bypass surgery and life saving treatment.
I think doctors are great. We need to let them do their job and heal us. We need to seperate insurance companies from the work doctors do.
Subject: Re: Health Care
I'd have to say stupidity and bureaucracy
also play a part in spiraling costs. Why? I am one of those horrible people who went to the Emergency Room for a non-Emergency condition. But only because the clinic told me to.
Last year, my daughter became sick at school. They did not call me to come get her till the school day was almost over. I immediately called the doctor's office/clinic to tell them we were coming in. It sounded to me like my daughter had an ear infection which would require antibiotics. Doctor's must guard against over-prescribing anti-biotics, so a respectable doc will not phone in a prescription to the pharmacy of your choice.
We got to the clinic fifteen minutes before they closed (at 4pm). They "decided" that was not long enough to adequately examine my daughter. It was a Friday, and I was not willing to take my sick child home without being treated (she was vomiting, and had a fever of 103). Instead of staying in the clinic for five more minutes we were sent to the emergency room next door. We sat there for two hours while the doctors and nurses took care of REAL emergencies.
When a doctor finally had time to see us, he took exactly seventeen minutes to thoroughly examine my daughter, ask me about our entire family's medical history, and give my daughter a shot of antibiotics to kill the infection. He made us stay another 30 minutes to make sure there would be no allergic reaction.
Because of the mis-management of the clinic, my insurance company ended up paying $600 or more for an ER visit instead of only $100 for the clinic and $8 for some pills. >:( >:(
(for the record, we go to a different clinic these days.)
Subject: Re: Health Care
Quoting:
But doesn't the pharmaceutical industry have to make big profits, so they can funnel the money into research and development?
End Quote
It would be great if they used the majority of their profits for research but they use a lot of advertising. How many times to do see a commercial for some drug? "Call your doctor to see if ____ is right for you." I wish that they were not allow to advertise.
Cat
Subject: Re: Health Care
Quoting:
"Call your doctor to see if ____ is right for you." I wish that they were not allow to advertise.
Cat
End Quote
In Canada drug companies are not allowed to advertise, but most of our television comes from the States, so we see all of the ads that come from there.
Subject: Re: Health Care
Quoting:
Doctors should be allowed to make a great living. They should have lots of respect for what they do. They save lives and help sick people get better. I have no problem with doctors making lots of money. My problem is with the insurance companies. They are evil. They do not see medicine as treating sick people, they see medicine as a buisness. The part I posted about buisness managers deciding what treatments paitents get was not BS, it really does happen. Need a CAT scan? The doctor can not just send you to get one, he has to have approval from the insurance company. And guess what many of these insurance companies are telling doctors: "you cost us money and we will not have you as a partner anymore".
There is alot government could do to help. One, make it so people can go to any doctor they want to see, not the ones the insurance companys tell you to go to. Secondly, let people get second opinions from doctors not affiliated with insurance programs, and if that second doctor says you need a procedure, then you should get the procedure. I am not talking about liposuction here, I am talking about things like bypass surgery and life saving treatment.
I think doctors are great. We need to let them do their job and heal us. We need to seperate insurance companies from the work doctors do.
End Quote
Sorry, an insurance company cannot kick a dr out because he wants to get some tests done. They just won't pay for the tests. It doesn't mean that the patient cannot get it. Or any other procedure. Insurance companies have guidelines in place to help control costs. If a dr is a member of a certain network, they agree to only charge x amount for a given procedure. Were they not in a network, they could charge 3xX for the same procedure. That charge would be the same for everyone, they cannot change their fees for a patient based on whether or not they have insurance. If there were no guidelines, imagine what health care would cost, then! I had a dr who recommended that I have some specialized tests that probably wouldn't help diagnose what was causing the problems I was having, but wouldn't hurt. Did I need them? No, but my insurance would pay for them so why not? Not all insurance companies are evil. I have never had my insurance company deny a procedure my dr recommended I have, whether it was performed within the clinic or not. I have been sent to outside providers for second opinions, and my insurance has paid for it. I have also had procedures done that the outside dr recommended, and my insurance paid. Like it or not, insurance companies are a business. Just like any other business in the world, it is the bottom line that matters. There is no company in this world that would be 'in business' if it wasn't profitable.
Government intervention is a good idea, but where's the money going to come from? The taxpayers. Don't we already pay enough to support other people through government funded programs (i.e. welfare, medicaid, etc.)?
Subject: Re: Health Care
Quoting:
It would be great if they used the majority of their profits for research but they use a lot of advertising. How many times to do see a commercial for some drug? "Call your doctor to see if ____ is right for you." I wish that they were not allow to advertise.
Cat
End Quote
I agree. My son asked me what Viagra was for because he saw a commercial for it on TV and wondered if it would help him because he was kinda' tired.
Subject: Re: Health Care
Quoting:
In Canada drug companies are not allowed to advertise, but most of our television comes from the States, so we see all of the ads that come from there.
End Quote
I wish that we had that here, too. That is probably part of the reason why drugs (the same drugs mind you) are cheaper in Canada. I really wish our health care system was more like our neighbors to the north.
Cat
Subject: Re: Health Care
Ok.....I am going to try to make a point of how "insurance" works. I have been in managed health care for a very long time now. I hate how HMO PPO etc works ,but I tell you what, it can make the difference between paying $300 a month premium for coverage and $1200 a month for coverage. Like it or not insurance is about making money. Why else would anyone go into a business that risky? Now, before everyone continues screaming about HMO's making the poor doctors do this that or the other thing...understand this. Most employer health care policies are now what we call "self funded". This means that the employer pays for the claims out of their own money, and merely hires the insurance company to process the claims, and administer the plan. This means, that YOUR employer is making the policies, and deciding what is covered and what isn't. NOT the insurance company. So...if you have an employee base of say...300 people, and you have maybe only 2 people on the plan that have a major illness (aids cancer etc).....the employer has to try to make up for those two sick people out of their own money. But, what if all of the sudden you have 20 people, or 30 people who have major illnesses, how, as an employer do you deal with this? Cut benefits lower and raise premiums. So yeah, the insurance company, who is trying to please their client, will implement a case manager to ensure that the care is still good for people but to redirect when possible to the less costly provider.
Like it or not this is the world of healthcare coverage today. To be quite honest, it would save all of us a great deal of money to "socialize" healthcare, because it is coming out of our pockets one way or another anyway! End rant. ;)
Subject: Re: Health Care
Well said Shazzah. ;)
Subject: Re: Health Care
Shazzahh got it right, my company does similar the differance is that we are self insured to a point, then the insurance company covers the rest, that way it keeps a safeguard incase 20 people come down with cancer or Aids (God Forbid) of course it still ends up costing more when the rates are renegotiated. Nope, the insurance companies aren't the ones getting rich.
Subject: Re: Health Care
Quoting:
I agree. My son asked me what Viagra was for because he saw a commercial for it on TV and wondered if it would help him because he was kinda' tired.
End Quote
LOL ... ROFL. How old is your son? Viagra makes me extra tired. I'll leave it to you to explain to him why ;D
Subject: Re: Health Care
Yes, those in the medical profession who take advantage of those that can't afford insurance with higher fees.
Quoting:
Good question.
I have some theories...but if someone has hard facts, go for it, and don't forget to yell at me for pulling stuff out of my butt ;)
Frivolous lawsuits
Red tape
Moneygrubbing insurance companies
Doctors who actually do commit malpractice
Medicines ain't cheap
Anything I missed?
End Quote
Subject: Re: Health Care
Quoting:
LOL ... ROFL. How old is your son? Viagra makes me extra tired. I'll leave it to you to explain to him why ;D
End Quote
He's almost 5. I explained to him that it was only for older boys. He asked "Old, like Daddy?" who is 38. I explained to him that Daddy didn't need it now, but maybe when he gets older, he might. ;)
Subject: Re: Health Care
I don't know about the health care situation in this country... ::)
But I'm still angry with the entire industry - >:(
Some months ago, I cut myself. The wound was small, a little less than 1" in length but was very deep. I went to the ER and was made to wait 2 hours in the waiting room. Then, I was made to wait another 45 minutes once I was called-in.
When the Dr. finally gave me the time of day, he cleaned my wound, gave me 3 tiny stitches and walked away. The total time he spent with me was 10 minutes.
I removed my own stitches at home after a couple of weeks.
I received a bill of $600.00!!!! :o :o :o :( >:( >:( >:(
For 3 stitches!!!!!! And just 10 minutes of being seen!!!!!!
Words fail me.....
Of course it's paid now. But I'm sure as heck not happy about it.
Subject: Re: Health Care
Quoting:
I don't know about the health care situation in this country... ::)
But I'm still angry with the entire industry - >:(
Some months ago, I cut myself. The wound was small, a little less than 1" in length but was very deep. I went to the ER and was made to wait 2 hours in the waiting room. Then, I was made to wait another 45 minutes once I was called-in.
When the Dr. finally gave me the time of day, he cleaned my wound, gave me 3 tiny stitches and walked away. The total time he spent with me was 10 minutes.
I removed my own stitches at home after a couple of weeks.
I received a bill of $600.00!!!! :o :o :o :( >:( >:( >:(
For 3 stitches!!!!!! And just 10 minutes of being seen!!!!!!
Words fail me.....
Of course it's paid now. But I'm sure as heck not happy about it.
End Quote
Doesn't it make you wonder if they are billing you for rent of the waiting room? I can understand, my husbands medicines alone in a month cost around $400 and that is with insurance! I don't want to think about how much it would be without it. Not to mention the $7000 leg braces....etc etc.
Subject: Re: Health Care
After my best friend had her son, she was feeling really sick to her stomach. The nurse brought her some Mylanta, a little bottle that had 1 or 2 doses in it. She was charged $26.50 for it. Heck, she could've gotten 4 full size bottles for that amount. It's amazing what they charge for things!
Subject: Re: Health Care
The clinic told me to go to the ER once, too.
One morning I'd vomited up some dried blood (it looks like coffee grounds.) A little concerned, I called for a clinic visit. They couldn't schedule me for a few days, and my doctor phoned back and told me to get to the ER as soon as possible (it helps working at a level one trauma center.)
So, after work I strolled down to the ER and signed the waiting list. Two and a half hours later I signed a "refused treatment" waiver and went home. It was one of those days where I kept getting pre-empted by auto accidents and gunshot wounds.
I did make it in, quickly, the next day during my lunch hour. They stuck the stomach tube through my nose and sucked up tummy juices. They snapped on the latex glove and got a dab to smear on fecal occult blood slide. I was out of there in about 30 minutes.
My doctor phoned that night. You can schedule an appointment, he said, but after reading the test results I'm pretty sure you have GERD. So he asked me a bunch of questions for a half hour or so, concluded to both our satisfaction that my stomach was over-producing acid and inflaming the esophagus (hence the blood), and phoned in a prescription for Zantac.
The ER visit was covered by insurance as a clinic visit and my doctor saved me time, and probably cost himself the revenue from a visit, with the phone interview.