Dr. Thompson's Blog

Finding Good Health Insurance

It is important that everyone have good health insurance. I don't like the idea of Medicare for All because it would cause countless problems. I would agree with an option to buy in to Medicare for anyone wants to do that. If you are not covered by where you work for health insurance or have insurance under the Affordable Health Care Act, it is wise to check out the different health insurance companies to see their charges.   Medicare is fine by itself if you are over 65, however it does not  cover a lot of things. Thus supplemental health insurance is wise. The CEOs of health insurance companies make millions of dollars, as do the CEOs of drug companies.  This always bothers me.  

There is a good website where you can compare the cost of private insurance. It is: ehealthinsurance.com. There are some other websites that also could be helpful. One is www.medicareadvocacy.org. Another  is healthfinder.gov. The  Health Insurance Association of American is www.hiaa.org.

For patients who can not afford prescriptions, there is a good website at www.themedicineprogram.com.

 

Guns, Guns, and More Guns = More and More Deaths

This last month there were 45 mass shootings.  Last year there were 147 mass shootings. What is wrong that we can not stop this terrible destruction? It is embarrassing to be an American when we have such a high rate of deaths from guns.  Not only do we have mass shootings, but the suicide rate with guns is also unbelievable. A study in 2018 stated that 67 Americans committed suicide each day. Yet psychiatric social workers in one state have been let go because they were declared "fluff" and there was no money to pay them.  Instead CEOs of hospitals, big corporations, and drug companies are making millions of dollars each year. 

It is estimated  that we have 400 million guns in the U.S., many of them loaded. With the pandemic more and more people are feeling depressed and worrying about feeding their families due to loss of their jobs. If we did not have so many available guns, good background checks and ways to keep guns from going across borders, we would have fewer deaths. Also, if we had more mental health services available we would be in a better place. Yes, the NRA has a terrible hold on many legislators. Perhaps if some of them lost a child or family member to a gun death, we might get some strong legislation. If any of them had seen a child die from a gun shot, as I have as a physician, perhaps we would get some strong laws. I  have no problem with responsible gun owners having unloaded guns but having a loaded gun in a house with a child, a teen or depressed, mentally ill person is a recipe for disaster. We can and MUST do better.

Concerns About Affluent Medical Students

There was a good article this week in the New York Times by David Kirp about how Ivy League colleges are choosing their students.  What the article said would also include the choice of medical students in the most sought after schools.  It noted that in five of the Ivy League colleges that "more students came from the top 1% than from the bottom 60%."  These are mostly students who graduated from prestigious private schools with access to tutoring and help with their applications. 

My concern about medical students is if they have a patient who had been  homeless or was from a low or middle income family, would they be able to understand the patient's problems, as would a medical student from a low to middle income background?

When I was a medical student at Stanford, most of our freshman class were men with families and military veterans. Only about six of us were  much younger and recent college graduates. I don't think any of us came from affluent schools or backgrounds. My favorite medical school professor said he would rather have a medical student who was a B student from a middle class family than a student from a rich family. Compassion and the art of medicine are so important in medicine, but I am finding a lot of doctors seem to be missing both of these today. My advice to people seeking a new doctor is to make an initial appointment and then if you don't feel comfortable with the doctor find a different one. I would first check the Internet to find out as much as you can about the doctor. Reviews may not always be helpful because some people may  simply a dislike the doctor's age, sex, or something else.