I have to say I do really wish there were some kind of reliable, N=1 medical service out there for when something is wrong and it’s not easy to diagnose let alone solve. I have a lot of personal experience in this area on the patient side, where a person close to me was (and still is!) suffering from some kind of medical problem and they keep getting bounced around because whatever is wrong is rare enough that it doesn’t show up on anyone’s flowchart. The experience is incredible frustrating, because I can see that there’s something pretty specific wrong, but every time I or the patient talked to a doctor we’d go through the diagnostic process and, at best, end with “yep, idk what’s wrong, let’s just treat some symptoms then”. I’d think that we’d be able to do better than this, but in the end most doctors just seem to throw up their hands and say “well, too hard for me, good luck”. I get why it happens: it’s a lot of work, they’re not going to get paid extra for doing it, and no one is going to sue them as long as they made a best effort. But it doesn’t make it any less frustrating, and any less interesting (to me) a problem to try to solve both for N=1 and for all the N=1s.
Curious if you’ve tried saying “I will pay extra for extra effort?” (My guess is that wouldn’t fly at doctors-in-an-institution but might possibly work for private practices?)
No, because there’s generally not an option for that via insurance since doing that would effectively be bribery under the way payment is handled. Have not tried doesn’t-take-insurance private practice.
I’m used to the German medical system, but this surprises me. In Germany, doctors can offer patients on insurance additional services for which the insurance doesn’t pay for direct payment without any problems.
I have to say I do really wish there were some kind of reliable, N=1 medical service out there for when something is wrong and it’s not easy to diagnose let alone solve. I have a lot of personal experience in this area on the patient side, where a person close to me was (and still is!) suffering from some kind of medical problem and they keep getting bounced around because whatever is wrong is rare enough that it doesn’t show up on anyone’s flowchart. The experience is incredible frustrating, because I can see that there’s something pretty specific wrong, but every time I or the patient talked to a doctor we’d go through the diagnostic process and, at best, end with “yep, idk what’s wrong, let’s just treat some symptoms then”. I’d think that we’d be able to do better than this, but in the end most doctors just seem to throw up their hands and say “well, too hard for me, good luck”. I get why it happens: it’s a lot of work, they’re not going to get paid extra for doing it, and no one is going to sue them as long as they made a best effort. But it doesn’t make it any less frustrating, and any less interesting (to me) a problem to try to solve both for N=1 and for all the N=1s.
Curious if you’ve tried saying “I will pay extra for extra effort?” (My guess is that wouldn’t fly at doctors-in-an-institution but might possibly work for private practices?)
No, because there’s generally not an option for that via insurance since doing that would effectively be bribery under the way payment is handled. Have not tried doesn’t-take-insurance private practice.
I’m used to the German medical system, but this surprises me. In Germany, doctors can offer patients on insurance additional services for which the insurance doesn’t pay for direct payment without any problems.