Florida health-care

[LUVMyBirman]

You will love it on a full time basis Gisele. How I long for that day. But......that would mean our daughter would be off to college. Not ready to give her up just yet.

On the other hand....both my husband and I have been though so much medically that we feel 20 years older than we really are. It does something to your nervous system.

 

[srwieland]

Gisele & Gina,

I've lived both in Florida and Austin (went to UT for 2 years). It really depends whether you like water or not! both are hot, one dry and one humid!

But, my vote ultimately goes to Florida, cause I love them beaches and best fresh springs in the world (and Gators too, of course!).

 

[hensylee]

A person in about.com Dr Rich's forum went to bat for himself, and won. Here's a statement maybe some of you would like to read - made by Dr Rich.

http://forums.about.com/ab-heartdisease/messages?msg=2123.4&redirCnt=1

 

[Marty]

More medical care than we can afford

More medical care than we can afford

Lets face it friends. We have created more medical care than we can afford. The country is also getting older and sicker.The only solution is some kind of rationing, heretofore a dirty word. My son lives in Vermont where the governor for the last ten years has been a family internist. Apparently medical care is still pretty good in Vermont and as you political junkies know Howard Dean is running for the democratic nomination for president.Dean has a lot of ideas how to solve the problem. I'll be listening to what he has to say in the next few months.

 

[Granbonny]

ER

ER

I have been to ER twice and son once in the last year. Take a good look around and wonder if those people have any insurance at all..Yet, when my grandson's temp. spiked about 3 summers ago in about an hour..(Fine an hour before) I took him to ER..they (Insurance refused to pay) said it was NOT an accident. Son had been paying $80.00 month for 8 years and this was the first time we had to use it. Bonnie

 

[hensylee]

Marty, I have been and will continue to watch Gov Dean. Ann Richards mentioned him months ago and when she makes a statement about someone, that someone is usually worth taking a good look at. I know that he has some really good ideas -

 

[Granbonny]

Be sure and buy Time Magazine

Be sure and buy Time Magazine

This week On the cover is a headless Doctor..title...The Doctor is Out...Pages 46-60..Many scary stories..Why they are quitting..because of malpractice..Page 57 has a very scary story on a Doctor that did heart surgery..Took the patient's flesh and bones down until his entite sternum was gone ..leaving his heart visible just under the skin.. This was in San Fran. at the KaiserMedical Center.....Bonnie

 

[Nancy]

Holy Smokes, Bonnie!

What was the reason for THAT procedure? Was it a legit thing, to cure some bone infection or something like that, or was the surgeon making a "statement" with that poor unfortunate soul.

It must be legit, because there would be others in the OR with the surgeon.

By the way, what was the name of the surgeon?

 

[Granbonny]

Nancy

Nancy

Reading the article now..long one..A school bus driver from Colvax, Wis.. now age 73. underwent heart-by-pass surgery in 1994. He developed a staph infection.. The article went on to say he..accepted a cash deal from from hospital.. In 1992. another man accepted a cash settlement to a man whose wife bled to death.. in same doctor's care.... End of article says this man says he feels lucky to be alive. The doctor went on to practice in Wisconsin..have to read long article to find out what happened to this doctor. Buy the magazine..scary stories. Bonnie

 

[Granbonny]

Name of doctor

Name of doctor

Hard case-
Michael McEnamy continued operating after peers questioned his competency

 

[Nancy]

Here's the link for the Time magazine article:

http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101030609/bhealth_discipline.html

 

[hensylee]

Many of you know that I just went through another type of surgery. Today I received an explanation of benefits for the assisting surgeon - as follows:

Amount charged: 942.74
Medicare Approved: 150.84
Medicare Paid Provider: 120.67
My orher ins will pay: 30.17


Maybe this is why Florida doctors are opting out. However, I don't think this is strictly a Florida thing - we just have more old people than other states.

 

[Marty]

Florida Health Care

Florida Health Care

We had a house in Florida for many years until 2000, Merritt Island near the
KSC. I was stationed at McDill AFB in Tampa for three years in the 50's. My best friend from WW11 lived in Sarasota at Longboat Key and we visited once or twice a year.
So I heard a lot of horror stories about immigrant yankees and their medical problems.
One patient story I liked was that of a Chicago steel heiress who could not find an internist in Sarasota to take her as a patient. She finally called a doctor professor friend at University of Chicago who with some trouble got a classmate to see her.
Florida has "centers of excellence", but be careful; they also have a lot of borderline MD's who look upon tourists and recent yankee immigrants with dollar signs in their eyes, and practise a brand of medicine that I often found substandard.

 

[hensylee]

Marty, I know about those places - and a good many of the doctors are also "yankees"!!! Thankfully, I live in an area where we have few tourists and everybody is homegrown, more or less. However 30 miles down the road it's a whole nother story. But that's Florida.........

 

[Sunshine susan]

Well, I live in Florida in Tampa Bay area. It is my opinion that the biggest problem in doctor's offices is not the doctors, but the office staff who can't get the codes right which will then totally louse up the insurance process. That aside, I have wonderful doctors--PCP, cardio, GYN. I agree with Steve that there could be varous types of declines, but it is certainly not unique to Florida. Of course, we get a lot of winter visitors, and it is very hard for doctors and their staff to provide consistent treatment with that which they may have obtained elsewhere for the remainder of the year. Many offices put on extra help for the seasonal influx. The doctor who gets the praise is the one who tells them what they want to hear, or if it is different from what they heard back home, it can't be right. And it's true that some of these "visitors" just don't find anything up to snuff in FL like it is "back home", except for the absense of snow and cold weather. It can be a restaurant, movie house, highway, hospital--the list goes on. While there could be some underlying issues, I think most of this stuff regarding the medical care is just hype and highly blown out of perspective. Elderly members of my family have the best care one could imagine. When I visit my cardiologist office for my coumadin clinic, I am surrounded by very elderly people. When my name is called, I have gotten withering and annoyed looks from these other patients because I surely must be a salesperson taking up their doctor time (I'm dressed for work and on my way...). Perception can become reality to many, and no one likes waiting for long in a doctors office. Insurance is a problem everywhere and the insurance companies "encourage" doctor offices in the codings they use for visits which can then turn one type of visit into another, thus reducing the incident coverge, and cause the problems you mention. That has happened to me even. If there is a problem here (although I have never read it in our papers), it is caused by the insurance companies, not the medical professionals. So ya'll come on down! The water is fine (uh--as long as it's not generated by a hurricane!)!! Susan

 

[Sunshine susan]

For Gisele..

For Gisele..

Hey, Gisele--we have some of the best cardios and heart surgeons in the country in St. Pte and Pinellas County. My surgeon is a pediatric heart surgeon who had just separated twins joined at the chest and sharing some heart function--both lived. I figured if he could do that, he could surely change out my lil old valve! I will be glad to recommend the Heart & Vascular Clinic of Florida. There are about 12 offices throughout Pinellas County. I see Dr. Witt in St. Pete. I get the best medical treatment and personal care one could imagine and am not a number. I can call any time and get an answer, and he knows that I hava a brain and mind of my own so we discuss everything regarding my heart health and come to agreement. So come on down--no fear, you will be in good hands! Susan

 

[Gisele]

Thanks Susan!

Thanks Susan!

We might be down there sooner than we thought! Budget problems here for the towns and cities and the city my husband works for is offering early retirement packages, and military buy back. All in all, I think we might be there in three years instead of seven! Yahoo! I can't wait. I certainly would love to meet with you when we do make the big move. St Pete..................here we come!

 

[Sunshine susan]

Back to Gisele

Back to Gisele

Come on down! It is truly a great place to live and work and has everything except snow and mountains!! (2 of my favorite things, but God willing, maybe one day I can have a little cabin to visit in the hills of TN or NC.) Hang in there--as you know, 3 years goes by awfully fast! If you want to read about my cardio medical group, the web site is www.havi.md (Heart & Vascular Institute of Florida). Susan http://www.havi.md

 

[Gisele]

Thanks!

Thanks!

Now, I pick one of the young cute docs for my next cardio doc! LOL----------just kidding.

 

[Nancy]

Hi Sunshine Susan-

If you want snow, I'll send you some. There is still a snow pile up where we live. I believe it was a municipal snow dump site. It's all covered with mud now, but there's snow underneath. The neighbors around the pile are complaining about it's unsightliness.

But I'll be happy to dig down underneath and get some white stuff for ya' if you'd like!

We had an enormous amount of snow last winter.