133, wow. Mine was described as very severe at 55. Amazed you didn't drive into anything.
On Tue, May 11, 2010 at 12:29 PM, William Bowen <william.bo...@gmail.com> wrote: > > I'm sorry for your brother's condition, but let me offer a > (admittedly-anecdotal but personal) counter-point. > > First, I have insurance, it is very good insurance, it is very > expensive insurance. Everything I will speak about below is completely > covered by my insurance. > > So, my wife tells me that she's been concerned for some time that I'm > not breathing right when I sleep. Between the loud snoring and the > stopping thereof, gasping for breath, etc. it's literally keeping her > up at night--not to mention worrying her. > > I called my local clinic for an appointment, wait a couple weeks for > the schedule to clear, go see my doctor, tell her about my symptoms, > she recommends that I see a sleep specialist. I go with my referral to > the appointments desk and find that they can schedule me for a consult > with a sleep specialist in a month. 1st available appointment. My > insurance doesn't play a part in making doctors more available. > > So I go to the appointment, describe my symptoms and my doctor says, > "we will schedule a sleep study as soon as possible." > > So I go to schedule a sleep study. It's a month out, first available > time slot. Again, having insurance doesn't get me to the front of the > line... I go to my sleep study and they hook me to the machines, lots > of wires and whatnot. > > My sleep study goes pretty well but I have to wait another three weeks > to get my results/follow-up consult. Again, insurance is no help > getting my results quicker. > > At my follow-up, my doctor my doctor informs me that 5 apneas an hour > is considered "dangerous". My count was 133 observed apneas per hour > over the course of the 7.5 hour sleep study. My oxygen levels went as > low as 50%. I am (according to my doctor) at high risk for > heart-attack, stroke and possible plain-old suffocation. > > So. I get fitted for a mask and take it home to start using it. The > settings are generally set, so I am getting airflow, but not optimal; > for that I need another sleep study and a follow-up. > > The 2nd sleep study was performed three weeks ago. My follow-up > appointment at which my mask will finally be set to optimal "dosage" > so that treatment can actually begin is June 11. Once again, great > insurance doesn't help me go the the head of the line. > > So six months later I will finally be able to begin treatment for > something that has been slowly killing me. This is the best on-demand > healthcare can do? How is the availability of and my possession of > insurance helping me get the treatment I need when I need it? > > > > > On Mon, May 10, 2010 at 6:22 PM, Sam <sammyc...@gmail.com> wrote: >> >> My bro-inlaw in the UK was told he needed to be tested for kidney and >> prostate cancer six months ago. Three months later he got the tests, >> Last week he got the results. He needs surgery for both and is now >> going on the waiting list. He's only 50 and we're very afraid he won't >> make it. >> >> >> On Mon, May 10, 2010 at 11:44 AM, Eric Roberts >> <ow...@threeravensconsulting.com> wrote: >>> >>> From talking to actual Canadians who use the system every day and talking to >>> actual Brits, and talking people who live in a few other countries where >>> they have socialized medicine...while it may not be perfect (what system >>> is?)...it is far better than what we have now in the US. When you have no >>> more barriers to getting preventive care, you detect issues earlier, which >>> also means, in most cases, it's also a lot cheaper to treat and it also >>> reduces the amounts of people going to ER's for issues that should be >>> getting retaken care of in the doctors offices. Plus, with a single system >>> of payment, it removes the layers and layers of complexity that doc's >>> offices have to deal with for payment. There are a lot of cost reductions >>> in socialized medicine that do offset a lot of the increases in costs that >>> the government picks up by sponsoring health care. >>> >>> I think the biggest deception in this whole issue is that opponents of >>> healthcare have convinced the teabaggers that there is a difference between >>> paying a premium to them and paying your premiums via taxes. The only >>> difference there is who is getting paid. So if you taxes go up and you no >>> longer have to pay an insurance premium (in the case of single payer), there >>> really is no logical difference in what is happening with your money. With >>> single payer, there is a good possibility that because this would be spread >>> out amongst a much larger pool of people, that what you are paying may be >>> considerably less. So meanwhile the dumbass teabaggers, who have been duped >>> into bitching about resultant tax hikes form this, keep screaming about >>> taxes, the insurance company is laughing at their rubes all the way to the >>> bank. >>> >>> Personally...I would rather pay the government and know that I can get >>> treatment without going bankrupt than deal with the insurance companies and >>> hospitals, knowing tat I will have to declare bankruptcy to deal with all my >>> medical bills since I don't have access to insurance(which is something I am >>> facing right no >> >> > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology-Michael-Dinowitz/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:318063 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
