Health Care in Maine (Bangor, Oakland: cost of, move, propane)

[Northern Maine Land Man]

I know a Doc who "runs barefoot". He has no medical malpractice insurance. He works 3 or 4 days a week. He fishes a lot, but he makes house calls. He works with Maine's uninsured people such as guides, farmers, loggers and bush pilots. He takes cash or checks. He does minor surgery and sets the bones these people break. A visiting doctor asked a guide how he could possibly run a practice with no malpractice insurance.

The guide said it was simple. If anybody sues Doc we'll just drown him. This was somewhat disconcerting to the visiting Doc.

[cebdark]

Originally Posted by Dreamy46

You reinforced my point exactly. I could care less about the medical bills, insurance etc., but showing up and not being able to get timely care because the emergency room is crowded with people that shouldn't even be in an emergency room, well, that's a whole other issue.

Yep. That is indeed frustrating, but that has a human nature element, and I hope as people are waiting in an ER, they won't judge a book by its cover.

Are there people who clearly abuse the system because they can't just suck up and take an aspirin? Absolutely. Will they be anymore willing to wait in a line at Wal-Mart then at an ER? I doubt it IMHO. Perhaps they will until the novelty wears off.

Are there people who walk up to the front desk looking like they're just fine and happen to suddenly be taken out back while you've been there for two hours? Uh-huh - and sometimes those very same people can be in the cardiac cath lab within 10 minutes because they're about 15 minutes away from being dead. They may or may not have insurance. At the ER level, insurance really doesn't matter. If a hospital looks at a patient through "Can this person pay?" glasses, then we get stringent regulation.

Take EMTALA for example... Overview EMTALA surf through those things and see if you can keep your eyes from glazing over in short order.

I hope someday, somewhere, someone can make healthcare even a tad bit more simple, I honestly do. And I also hope they can do it without complete government control. I still think that adding the for-profit piece will not create "competition" - I think it'll further drive down the road of "too big to fail" mentality personally.

[cebdark]

Originally Posted by Northern Maine Land Man

I know a Doc who "runs barefoot". He has no medical malpractice insurance. He works 3 or 4 days a week. He fishes a lot, but he makes house calls. He works with Maine's uninsured people such as guides, farmers, loggers and bush pilots. He takes cash or checks. He does minor surgery and sets the bones these people break. A visiting doctor asked a guide how he could possibly run a practice with no malpractice insurance.

The guide said it was simple. If anybody sues Doc we'll just drown him. This was somewhat disconcerting to the visiting Doc.

I love it!

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by GreenGene

My wife and I are seriously considering Maine for our retirement. The health care insurance situation in Maine would not directly affect us - we are both federal retirees covered by the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program until we die or lose our minds & drop the coverage ... unless the national health care reform screws that up for us.

But the overall health care situation in Maine is a big concern. All the insurance in the world won't help if the care you need isn't there when you need it.

I was heartened to find that, in 2006, Maine ranked 13th (http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/ranks/rank18.html - broken link) in the country in doctors per 100,000 resident population at 270 doctors. To give you an idea of how that compares, Massachusetts was first at 462, and Idaho was last at 169. In fact, the Northeast had the highest number of doctors in the country, from Maryland and Pennsylvania on up.

But regardless of health insurance and the number of doctors, the crowded emergency rooms mentioned in the article and the trend noted that "doctors are closing solo practices and joining hospitals" are troubling.

It's not like my wife and I can move to Maine tomorrow. It will be another year, perhaps two, at the earliest. We should have national health care reform in place for some time before the move, and we will watch carefully to see how it impacts health care in Maine.

I am a military retiree, so likewise we have an okay coverage plan.

We have not had any problems in getting medical treatment in Maine.

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by Northern Maine Land Man

I know a Doc who "runs barefoot". He has no medical malpractice insurance. He works 3 or 4 days a week. He fishes a lot, but he makes house calls. He works with Maine's uninsured people such as guides, farmers, loggers and bush pilots. He takes cash or checks. He does minor surgery and sets the bones these people break. A visiting doctor asked a guide how he could possibly run a practice with no malpractice insurance.

The guide said it was simple. If anybody sues Doc we'll just drown him. This was somewhat disconcerting to the visiting Doc.

Sweet

[GreenGene]

Originally Posted by forest beekeeper

I am a military retiree, so likewise we have an okay coverage plan.

We have not had any problems in getting medical treatment in Maine.

Thanks - that's good to know.

[starwalker]

Originally Posted by Northern Maine Land Man

I know a Doc who "runs barefoot". He has no medical malpractice insurance. He works 3 or 4 days a week. He fishes a lot, but he makes house calls. He works with Maine's uninsured people such as guides, farmers, loggers and bush pilots. He takes cash or checks. He does minor surgery and sets the bones these people break. A visiting doctor asked a guide how he could possibly run a practice with no malpractice insurance.

The guide said it was simple. If anybody sues Doc we'll just drown him. This was somewhat disconcerting to the visiting Doc.

I would SO patronize such a physician, should I need one. Wish he were in my area...

[Northern Maine Land Man]

He's not far Starwalker.

[starwalker]

Originally Posted by Northern Maine Land Man

He's not far Starwalker.

Likely not, as the Realtor flies! I have been staying lots closer to home, though, of late.

Is he up in your neck of the woods??

[cebdark]

Originally Posted by Dreamy46

He goes on to tell me that the $20 plan is where if you need health care that you go to the emergency room to get it as needed. As you're leaving, he says, you tell the billing department that you don't have a job, or any money, and give them $20. Then as they send you bills in the coming months and years, you just keep sending them $20, which he said kept them from taking any meaningful legal action against you.

Let's just say I don't have any problem whatsoever with the government taking action against people like this that refuse to have health insurance...

Me neither. In that case, he can afford it - "afford" being the key word there.

Call me judgemental, but I also don't have a problem getting after the kid that comes in completely covered with expensive body art/fancy clothes and/or yakking on a cell phone with more apps than the average debutante's - yet has no obvious job to pay for any of them.

Unfortunately, when discussions of this nature come up, those kids are the ones that get the most press even 'tho it's the others (like the one whose girlfriend had to drag him bodily in because his appendix burst and he could afford no coverage despite working) who actually need some help but either can't get it, or refuse it out of pride.

This is why I often use the word "quagmire" in my healthcare discussions.