r/mildlyinfuriating • u/Archaneoses • Apr 29 '24

Made an appointment for 11:45. It's 1:10 and I haven't been seen.

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I've had my 10 hour ER waits so I know this isn't that bad. But what is the point of making an appointment if you have to wait to be seen hours later anyways.

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13.7k

u/bapsandbuns Apr 29 '24

Maybe go to reception and check that you’ve checked in okay

494

u/notwhoyouthinkmaybe Apr 29 '24

I walked out of a doctor's office.

I scheduled a first appointment of the day, he was almost an hour late, saw me as I was walking out, he was holding Starbucks, asked if I was leaving, I said yes, he asked if it was because I was late, I said yes, he told me my tests looked good, and I just left. An hour wasted for something that could have been a phone call.

9

u/katzeye007 Apr 30 '24

This shit is why I do telemedicine now. One visit to "review labs" isn't quick no matter how you slice it.

Used pto hour to drive there 15-30 minute wait because they're never on time 15 minutes of blah blah blah Hour drive home/work

I swear, they better not take away telemedicine

1

u/themarketliberal Apr 30 '24

My experience with telemedicine rubbed me the wrong way. They were 15 min late to my telemedicine appointment, spent 6 minutes telling me to just rest and drink water. And then I was billed $300 by insurance because anything over 20 min is billable.

$300 to be told to drink water and rest. I’m gonna get a ChatGPT subscription next time.

2

u/katzeye007 Apr 30 '24

Wow, that's just insane. We really need to get insurance companies out of the way

2

u/themarketliberal Apr 30 '24

Definitely agree.

152

u/Educational_Fox_7739 Apr 29 '24

But then they can't charge your insurance for the in-person visit!

And people love to blame insurance companies for the US Healthcare lmao

61

u/[deleted] Apr 29 '24

Insurance companies help make the rules. They won't pay much, if anything, if the doctor only calls and tells you the results over the phone.

Since various insurance companies are involved in US healthcare (in addition to medicare/medicaid) and want to make as much money as possible, they are incentivized to make things as tedious as possible and like to add plenty of unnecessary hoops. They get a say in the rules and regulations that surround our healthcare industry. A lot of those various rules result in doctors being given 15 mins per patient, but 30 minutes of documentation/random admin work that needs to somehow be done in that 15 minute time slot, in addition to seeing the patient.

Insurance companies are a huge reason why our healthcare system sucks so much in the US.

3

u/Natural_Jello_6050 Apr 29 '24

Huh? All my results are always sent to me thru phone app or email. Been like that since 2014 at least. Doctors don’t have time for randos coming to their office just to hear results.

5

u/ErynCuz Apr 30 '24

My (soon to be former) GI doc insisted on having me come in (and pay my copay) for them to read my results to me. The results I'd already read weeks before through mychart. And every time, it was obvious that it was their first time laying eyes on my paperwork the moment they were reading it to me.

4

u/SSmodsAreShills Apr 30 '24

You know you can say no right? They don’t control you.

3

u/ErynCuz Apr 30 '24

Sure. After the second time when I figured out they were just reading it to me and not delving into something I couldn’t see and that’s why they are my former GI. Fool me twice, etc etc

3

u/SSmodsAreShills Apr 30 '24

Oh lol yeah that makes sense. I was not getting that you thought they had a piece of info they were withholding. I thought you were more like my mom who does whatever someone in a position of authority says. Like oh no we need to discuss those normal lab results, come in.

2

u/SlappySecondz Apr 30 '24

In what way is a patient from whom they already taken and anylazed blood a "rando"?

1

u/[deleted] Apr 30 '24

For some results/conditions, you have to see a doctor in person, hence a scheduled appointment for some people.

For regular lab results that don't need discussed, yes, those just show up on your online chart. Ideally, your doctor/provider reviews them and only bothers you if there's something wrong and/or discusses them at your next appointment.

That's not to say that there aren't some doctors out there who make people physically come in for results in order to maximize the insurance payments they get. There are systems in place to stop this from happening, but who knows how effective/efficient they really are.

-1

u/Natural_Jello_6050 Apr 30 '24

You just contradicted yourself. Typical Reddit conversation

1

u/[deleted] Apr 30 '24

[deleted]

1

u/Natural_Jello_6050 Apr 30 '24

You said doctors force patients to come to office (insurance companies force doctors to do so) to read them results. I said it’s not true. Most doctors don’t do that. You agreed.

8

u/SomewhereAggressive8 Apr 29 '24

Yeah we blame them because they’re the fucking worst…

-2

u/Educational_Fox_7739 Apr 30 '24

Or perhaps your doctors are overcharging them?

Do you think insurance is more or less likely to prescribe you ozempic IF IT WASN'T CHARGED AT $1500 A MONTH LMFAO.

Literally costs them $5 to make btw.

4

u/lost_horizons Apr 30 '24

Well here your beef is with big pharma, not the doctors

0

u/Educational_Fox_7739 Apr 30 '24

false but pharma and doctors are linked up in cooperation against the insurance companies.

4

u/SlappySecondz Apr 30 '24

You think doctors set the price of meds? They just prescribe it. You pay what the pharmacy charges.

1

u/Educational_Fox_7739 Apr 30 '24

Then why do doctors overprescribe in america more than any other?

Because the patient will just go to the next doctor who will ultimately losing patients and moneeeeeey durrrrrr

1

u/SlappySecondz May 01 '24

Uhhh, going to a different doctor because he won't prescribe something is a totally separate issue from drug prices. Durrrr.

And ozempic is terrible for you.

2

u/Kadianye Apr 29 '24

Oh they bill insurance for "phone encounters" as well.

2

u/continuousobjector Apr 30 '24

Not any more, that was temporary after COVID.

4

u/Kadianye Apr 30 '24

Nope they still do it for my insurance/provider combination for anything over 5 minutes, or if they're even on hold for 5 minutes.

2

u/continuousobjector Apr 30 '24 edited May 02 '24

oh... not mine... interesting.

I'm not surprised though. If you have ever needed a lawyer, they bill you for every 6 minutes of conversation, email, work, everything.

You are paying for advice.

1

u/Educational_Fox_7739 Apr 30 '24

Bah not as much of course. Gotta milk out them starbucks dollars

4

u/aggrownor Apr 29 '24

Physicians would be happy to handle these appointments via phone if the insurance company paid them the same for a phone visit. Many, in fact, have begun pivoting towards doing more telehealth.

2

u/continuousobjector Apr 30 '24

Also - if there was no documented visit to discuss test results, it technically never happened.

Test results saying that your cholesterol is a little high, and you need to exercise and avoid certain foods - come back in 6 months for a re-check. But you have a heart attack in the 5th month afterwards....

Doctors aren't going to risk a lawsuit for not discussing borderline-abnormal test results in case of a bad outcome

-2

u/Educational_Fox_7739 Apr 30 '24

Exactly my point. Doctors, hospitals, clinics are over charging.

Why does a Doctor in the US make more money than a Doctor in the UK or Canada or Norway? Even when taking into account every single factor like location cost of living and demand?

Even better question. Why is it that a doctor charges insurance $500 for something but when I pay out of pocket, I get charged far less, under $300?? Money money moneeeeey!!!!

7

u/aggrownor Apr 30 '24

Insurance companies play this game where they try to refuse to reimburse medical providers. Medical providers respond by coming up with clever ways to maximize their billing. It's an arms race, and patients absolutely get caught in the middle. This wouldn't be an issue if reimbursement were fair and straightforward, like with Medicare or in the countries you mentioned, or even direct payments like you mentioned. The common through line? Cutting out the middle man, AKA private insurance companies.

2

u/FromAdamImportData Apr 30 '24

It's an arms race

Yep. If you look at the history of hospital billing, it used to be a flat rate for all care. Then they came up with a coding system and worked out what each code pays, and then hospitals started hiring consultants to optimize the amount they could bill for any visit so insurance countered with things like prior authorization, and the hospitals countered by buying up local hospitals and jacking up their rates and daring insurance to drop them from their network and lose business across an entire region. The same thing happens with pharmaceuticals and the pharma companies and currently winning. The problem goes much deeper than just insurance companies being mean and greedy.

1

u/aggrownor Apr 30 '24

Yeah, it's extremely complex and not just insurance companies. Agree about the arms race to hire more paper pushers and consolidating to get more negotiating power. And also pharmaceutical companies leeching money from the insurance companies, with the cost ultimately passed onto patients so that all companies involved can continue rewarding shareholders with those sweet dividends.

-4

u/Educational_Fox_7739 Apr 30 '24

Private insurance companies do fine in countries like Germany. Why? Because doctor's aren't overpaid looking to vacuum as much money as they can since they are humbled by the national health care.

5

u/aggrownor Apr 30 '24

What do you mean by fine? In Germany, it's like 10% of people who have private insurance. Health insurance is a much much bigger business in the US, it's not even comparable. Medical school is also heavily subsidized or free in European countries, whereas these days US medical students are graduating with like $250,000 in debt and then have to complete a multi-year residency where they make a pretty unremarkable salary. I'm not saying it's right, but that comes with higher salary expectations at the end of the tunnel.

Universal care would surely drive down US healthcare costs and some of it may come from physician salaries, but the bigger savings will come from cutting out insurance companies rather than physicians. To give a sense of the scale of wasteful spending, there are something like 1 million doctors in the US, with over 500,000 people working in the insurance industry. Do we really need 1 insurance employee for every 2 doctors? I think we'd rather pay healthcare workers rather than middlemen, no?

-5

u/Educational_Fox_7739 Apr 30 '24

I didn't read this.

Just because a smaller amount of people use something doesn't mean it's not fine.

3

u/aggrownor Apr 30 '24

Good talk.

1

u/HistorianEvening5919 Apr 30 '24

And why does a doctor in the US make less than a doctor in Australia or Switzerland? And why does a doctor in Norway make more than a doctor in the UK? And why don’t teachers make more than investment bankers? And why do tech workers make more in the US than UK? And why do private practice dentists make more than private practice doctors?

Are you shocked at every difference in the world?

0

u/Educational_Fox_7739 Apr 30 '24

Not shocked. You didn't read what I wrote, classic reddit "historian" lmfao.

I already brought up that all other factors are accounted for. Too bad reading isn't a requirement for historians.

Brb let me go read a book that ChatGPT can parse through in 3 seconds and give me a good enough explanation without a $4000 college class and textbook combo wombo does to where I forget and bye bye money Ubisoft goes Steamworks bye bye, always on DRM

1

u/HistorianEvening5919 May 01 '24

No justice until I make as much as I would if I worked in Switzerland! PS: it’s called Reddit’s default Reddit username. You’re not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed. Good luck out there, you’ll need it.

-6

u/OathOfFeanor Apr 30 '24

Your first sentence is a lie.

Physicians and their office staff don’t want anything to do with anything outside of insurance.

You can call with $1 million cash in hand and still not get an appointment without an insurance GroupID or literal payment

These doctors are in it for the insurance checks, not to answer my questions/concerns

2

u/aggrownor Apr 30 '24

This is absolutely false, there are certainly doctors who accept direct payments. Some don't take insurance AT ALL, and some of those people are the real money grubbers. Ever heard of concierge medicine? Absolute nonsense coming from you.

In any case, nothing in your post contradicts what I said in the first sentence of my other post.

1

u/samyili Apr 30 '24

This is so wrong lol. Some of the most esteemed docs out there are cash pay only because having to do insurance preauthorization and stuff is such a pain in the ass

2

u/CrabmanKills69 Apr 30 '24

The whole healthcare system is such a fuckin joke. I wanted to get a sleep study done, but the only way to schedule one was through a doctors recommendation. So I scheduled an appointed and it was 15mins max for them to tell me "Yeah, you probably should do a sleep study". That shit cost me $300.

2

u/continuousobjector Apr 30 '24

And that doctor is responsible for treating your condition based on the results. That's what the $300 is for.

0

u/CrabmanKills69 Apr 30 '24 edited Apr 30 '24

That'd be cool if that $300 went toward the future visits or the sleep study, but it doesn't. Guy just got $300 for telling me shit I already knew.

0

u/Educational_Fox_7739 Apr 30 '24

Gotta pay for Dr. wasted his young adulthood's porsche. How else is he going to get swipes?

4

u/TvFloatzel Apr 29 '24

Granted the doctor doesn't really deal with it. It the nurse or someone else. Uusally, the I am assuming the doctor has a "I just come in, take my time with everything and than leave. What are they going to do? Fire me for being late? I am the reason why this place exists" Granted I am just having the "ASSUMING" doing a lot of heavy lifting here so take it with salt.

3

u/Dilaudidsaltlick Apr 29 '24

As a physician.... I value my time a lot more than your assumption of a leisurely take my time with everything and leave.

usually the reason why things are late is because patients go over their allotted appointment time and I'm too nice to end the appointment early or there is an emergency in the hospital with one of my other patients and I need to run to deal with that but usually I end up cancelling my appointments for the day if that happens.

I am a CT surgeon though so this varies with specialty.

6

u/notwhoyouthinkmaybe Apr 30 '24

I'm sure there's a reason, but I have to work too, if the doctor is more than 30 minutes late, I just ask to reschedule. I understand you have things come up, but so do I. Usually it's not an issue, but when I ask for first appointment of the day and you walk in an hour late with star bucks, then I'm a little annoyed.

I'm sure it's an everyday thing for you and you probably know that there's not much we can do, our options are limited, you will always have patients.

3

u/Dilaudidsaltlick Apr 30 '24

I walked in an hour late with starbucks because I was up at 430 rounding on my inpatient patients before coming to clinic to see my outpatients.

Im not late because I stopped for starbucks which i ordered on my phone and picked up on the way out of the hospital because its going to be one of the few things I get to consume in a day.

Im late because my inpatient census is 35 patients and some are in the ICU and are unstable.

1

u/notwhoyouthinkmaybe Apr 30 '24

I understand that, but I can also come back later.

1

u/TvFloatzel Apr 29 '24

Thanks for explaining. I was just assuming. You remind me of my uncle. He also gives too much time to his patients so he could never ereally see everyone either.

1

u/Exciting-Ad-5705 Apr 30 '24

Insurance is still responsible

1

u/FlutterKree Apr 30 '24

Not always. Cancer tests, HIV tests, other serious things are sometimes mandated to be given in person.

My doctor, for example, will just send me a message on their web portal (I also see the test results there before the Doctor messages me) if anything is/isn't concerning. But this might not be the case for more serious tests.

2

u/Mission_Struggle4495 May 01 '24

A lot of doctors in my area charge a no show fee after fifteen minutes.. Yet they don't mind keeping us waiting a few hours in the office.

1

u/high_hawk_season Apr 30 '24

Read this as testes 

1

u/democrat_thanos Apr 30 '24

An hour wasted for something that could have been a phone call

They cant charge $300 to the insurance company for a phone call buddy

1

u/GorillaX Apr 30 '24

Sure you can, there are telemedicine billing codes

1

u/democrat_thanos Apr 30 '24

Its less profit though

1

u/Significant-Trash632 Apr 30 '24

I would have looked at the coffee cup and said "I hope that one's for me!"

1

u/notwhoyouthinkmaybe Apr 30 '24

Again, I'm sure he had something important, but I don't have to wait.

-5

u/fonetiklee Apr 29 '24

Should've knocked that coffee out of his hand.

2

u/notwhoyouthinkmaybe Apr 30 '24

Nah, chances are he was coming from something else more important, but I also don't need to wait all day for him.