One more try -- INTERNATIONAL DUers PLEASE READ

[warren pease]

As I said in yesterday's widely ignored post (in GD, not here), I'm looking for DUers who live outside the US and who can describe your experiences in getting simple tests -- in this case, some blood work -- under your national health care systems.

I want to contrast your stories with this one I got yesterday from someone who had read an article I did highly critical of for-profit medicine and sent it along to me in hopes I might be able to use it in a future article. This is excerpted from his/her note:


==================================================================
I am in the throes of dealing with three medical
problems. In order to get three simple blood tests performed this
week, I had to do the following yesterday:

1. Phone call to primary insurer to ensure coverage
2. Phone call to secondary out-of-state contractor to find approved lab
3. Phone call to doc's office to get procedure code--not known
4. Phone call to first (erroneously chosen) lab to get procedure codes
5. Phone call to secondary insurer to give procedure codes. Lab is
not approved even though the hospital it is attached to is approved
6. Phone call to approved labs to find out whether I need new
form--no answer at either facility
7. Series of six runaround voice mail messages at lab 1--after
reaching correct person, I get cut off
8. Series of four runaround voice messages at lab 2--asked to be
called back and never am
9. Direct call to lab 2 to confirm procedure code--must have new form
from doc
10. Phone call to doc to get new forms--two voice mail messages
11. Phone call to lab 1--no new form required

All of this required two hours of my time. For one blood test. In all
I was transferred or left a voice message or had to listen to menu
options a total of 22 times. For one blood test.

And this is after the secondary insurer misinformed me that all the
facilities of an approved hospital are within the network. They are
not. Just because a lab is contained within a hospital, employs
hospital staff, and bills through the hospital does not mean that it
is part of that hospital.
====================================================================


Now, I just can't believe this kind of crap goes on in any sane, civilized country. To support that hypothesis, I'm trying to get as many brief (one paragraph is all that's necessary) describing how you'd go about getting and paying for blood work in your countries.

This could be a great article with enough input to constitute a reasonable sample of international systems and how they deal with a simple blood test. I'd like to include your story in this upcoming compare/contrast article I have in mind.

But I can't possibly do it without a great deal of help. So please try to take a couple of minutes and send me just a quick overview of what's involved, now much bureaucracy you have to put up with, and how much would it cost.

Also, if you haven't had any personal experiences with this issue, please distribute this note far and wide among your friends and contacts.

Finally, this kind of piece can be a small but significant blow against the mentality that created and supports the US medical madness. It would be my great pleasure and privilege to personally, though figuratively, flip one of the thousands of switches that blow the official story straight to hell.

You can post responses here, send them to me via DU's PM system, or mail them to my account at [e-mail] /

Also, please let me know if I can use your name, screen name, or just identify your country.

I'm also going to post this in the Health forum, and maybe elsewhere if I can find a forum that fits.


Thanks a lot for reading through this, and many thanks in advance for any contributions you can make to this project. Christ knows, we need all the help we can get here in the land of the medically fucked.


Best,

wp

[uriel1972]

1. My experience

Here in South Australia all I have to do is get a request form from my doctor and when I get the blood taken I sign in a box on the form and the pathology provider bills Medicare. That's all I have to do. Sorry for your experiences

[warren pease]

2. UPDATE -- and a plea

Hello to all -- I finally got the approval from both the woman mentioned in the OP and the editor of Online Journal to go ahead with the story. Actually "stories," since there were so many responses -- particularly from Canadians, but Australia came in strong as well -- so I'll be doing a series of at least three articles. Unfortunately, Europe (or Yurp, as our strutting little dull-normal fuhrer likes to call it) and Asia are very underrepresented, as is the UK specifically.

If you're at all interested in participating, please take the time to respond to the OP. It's pretty simple:

Country, age (optional), gender, does your country have a single-payer system, if not what kind of system, what would it cost you in terms of hassle and money to have a blood test done (see scenario in OP), and how is health care paid for in your country?

Thanks a lot to all of you for taking the time to tell your stories. I'd sure like to get more, though. If you happen to have friends who can comment on this issue but aren't members of DU, I'd love to hear what they have to say. They can just email me at...

[e-mail]/

Anyway, I hope to get the first article done in time for publication this Friday. This one will feature Canadians and their individual stories. You might check here...

http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/index.shtml

... to see if it's out yet. If it's not, it's most likely slated for Friday, 8/10.


Thanks again,

wp