Last fall I got an unexpected phone call from my mother, she had tested positive for a rare genetic disorder called long Q-T syndrome that effects the heart’s rhythm and can cause sudden and unexpected heart failure. I have a 50/50 change of carrying the gene too.
So of I go to get tested in November. The test ain’t cheap, $1,000, but we had met our $1,500 deductable for the year so it wasn’t a concern…until 10 minutes ago. I get a call from the lab and I was expecting results…instead I’m told that they haven’t done the test yet because of a backlog and they won’t do it until they get a $1,000 payment from me.
Sorry they tell me, they bill the insurance when they do the actual testing, not when the blood is drawn.
Friggin brilliant, now I have to wait another 2 months to find out if I have a dodgy heart and if my daughter might have one too, but I have to pay these clowns $1,000 because they can’t process tests in a timely fashion.
Long Q-T syndrome, if I’m not mistaken, should be easy to pick up on a basic 3- or 4-lead EKG. I believe it’s always present (if ever), and not a now you see it, now you don’t variety of abnormality.
Stop by the local paramedic station & ask them to take a look & print out a strip for you. They may do it free of charge (I usually do in such circumstances).
Edit: Spoke too soon. It’s only evident on a baseline EKG in some cases. A baseline can confirm it, but the absence of a prolonged interval doesn’t necessarily rule it out.
From the Mayo Clinic:
Long QT Syndrome OverviewDiagnosisTreatmentAppointmentsClinical TrialsResearchPatient Stories Symptoms Risks Diagnosis
Tests needed to diagnose LQTS vary with each individual. To diagnose and evaluate long QT syndrome, Mayo doctors may order one or more of the following tests: Electrocardiograms. This test studies the heart’s rhythm and gauges the severity of the problem. Some people with suspected long QT syndrome have a clearly prolonged QT interval on an ECG. However others do not, making the condition more difficult to diagnose. Other testing may then be necessary. Ambulatory ECG monitoring (Holter monitoring). This test is used to monitor the heart for rhythm irregularities during normal activity for an uninterrupted 24-hour period. During the test, electrodes attached to the chest are connected to a portable recorder that attaches to a person’s belt or is carried by a shoulder strap. The recorded information can then be analyzed by computer to check for heart rhythm irregularities, such as prolonged QT intervals. Exercise stress test. This ECG test is performed while the patient is walking on a treadmill or pedaling a stationary bike. By monitoring the heart while it is working harder, a doctor can better assess its function and limits. Epinephrine QT stress test. This QT stress test is performed while the patient is given a medication that stimulates the heart in a way similar to exercise. The medication is given through a vein in the arm and may include epinephrine (adrenaline). In some people with long QT syndrome, fainting spells are triggered by sudden bursts of adrenaline in the body, such as are experienced during intense exercise or emotional upset. Electroencephalogram (EEG). This test checks for neurologic causes of fainting, such as a seizure disorder. The procedure measures the waves of electrical activity the brain produces. LQTS genetic testing. Blood tests can check for mutations in the genes currently known to cause inherited long QT syndrome. The first genetic mutations responsible for long QT were initially discovered in 1995. Over the past decade, genetic testing has been available at only a few research laboratories throughout the world, including Mayo Clinic’s Sudden Death Genomics Laboratory. Mayo Clinic is a world leader in research to improve genetic testing for this disorder, playing an integral role in developing the clinical genetic test for detecting cardiac ion channel mutations. Clinical genetic testing for LQTS has been available since May 2004
Go up to Canada, they will get you in right away, no waiting or questions and its free. I don’t know why anybody would come to the USA from Canana for health care with it’s free there.
Go up to Canada, they will get you in right away, no waiting or questions and its free.
No waiting? No questions? You forgot to type that in pink. I have to wait another 2.5 weeks before I can call to make a doctors appointment for the following month. The clinic does not allow you make to appointments before then, and the appointments fill up in 2 days.
I needed an EKG, chest x ray and an echo 2 years ago and the cardio clinic in the hospital where I work told me to go away and never come back because they don’t have openings in their schedule. EVER.
Not all genetic tests are covered in Canada. A friend of mine had to pay $6000 to find out she has Huntingtins.
I think Matt’s problems are passed life crimes he committed against Xenu. Tom and John ca help him make up for his past crimes against the alien in the mountains.
**No waiting? No questions? You forgot to type that in pink. I have to wait another 2.5 weeks before I can call to make a doctors appointment for the following month. The clinic does not allow you make to appointments before then, and the appointments fill up in 2 days. **
Maybe it’s the clinic you go to. My entire family is in Canada and have never had a problem.
"I hear Cuba has a pretty good healthcare system, you could go there. "
Surprisingly they have a pretty good health and education system:
"Dr. Robert N. Butler, president of the International Longevity Center in New York and a Pulitzer Prize-winning author on aging, has traveled to Cuba to see firsthand how doctors are trained. He said a principal reason that health standards in Cuba approach the high American level is that the Cuban system emphasizes early intervention. Clinic visits are free, and the focus is on preventing disease rather than treating it.
Dr. Butler said some of Cuba’s shortcomings may actually improve its health profile. “Because they don’t have up-to-date cars, they tend to have to exercise more by walking,” he said. “And they may not have a surfeit of food, which keeps them from problems like obesity, but they’re not starving, either.”
There could be one great leveler for Cubans. While all Cubans have at least minimal free access to doctors, more than 45 million Americans lack basic health insurance. Many are reluctant to seek early treatment they cannot afford, Dr. Butler said. Instead, they wait to be admitted to an emergency room.
“I know Americans tend to be skeptical,” he said, “but health and education are two achievements of the Cuban revolution, and they deserve some credit despite the government’s poor record on human rights.”
Last fall I got an unexpected phone call from my mother, she had tested positive for a rare genetic disorder called long Q-T syndrome that effects the heart’s rhythm and can cause sudden and unexpected heart failure. I have a 50/50 change of carrying the gene too.
So of I go to get tested in November. The test ain’t cheap, $1,000, but we had met our $1,500 deductable for the year so it wasn’t a concern…until 10 minutes ago. I get a call from the lab and I was expecting results…instead I’m told that they haven’t done the test yet because of a backlog and they won’t do it until they get a $1,000 payment from me.
Sorry they tell me, they bill the insurance when they do the actual testing, not when the blood is drawn.
Friggin brilliant, now I have to wait another 2 months to find out if I have a dodgy heart and if my daughter might have one too, but I have to pay these clowns $1,000 because they can’t process tests in a timely fashion.
Dear President Obama,
I hope you can fix this mess.
Sorry about the situation, but this is due to a bad lab, not the overall healthcare system. Hell I am fighting with 2 healthcare providers about billing issues. Wifey had her knee scoped in Oct. Paid our part upfront to the doctor the morning of the surgery. Then got a bill for that very amount a month later. They couldn’t find the payment. Another provider didn’t take the PPO discount into consideration and tried to stick us with an extra $350 in charges. Even though these are a pain in the ass, it has zero to do with our healthcare system and more to do with sloppy work by office people.
You can “Hope”, but I would think Obama is too busy paying other peoples mortgages and filling their gas tanks to really help you out.
I’m not always a cynic but my wife works in the billing department of a major hospital and with that sort of exposure it’s very hard not to be. Her job, every day, is to try to minimize the amount by which all of the major insurance companies underpay her hospital for the work they do. I get the impression the average loss is about 15-20%. Don’t quote me on that but I can guarantee that in two years she’s never seen a bill overpaid.
I am generally a huge proponent of free markets. In healthcare I have no doubt that they have contributed to well run, efficient, professionally managed insurance companies from the perspective of their shareholders. The question however, is whether it makes sense to allow profit making and profit motivated companies such an influential role in deciding how much healthcare you get and how fast you get it, regardless of their intentions or ethics, when healthcare is such a uniquely valuable product.
Simply put I will happily pay for a certain level of governmental inefficiency for the security of knowing that if I come down with something that should be covered the decision on whether I get cover is made by someone with no motivation to deny me.
“Simply put I will happily pay for a certain level of governmental inefficiency for the security of knowing that if I come down with something that should be covered the decision on whether I get cover is made by someone with no motivation to deny me.”
The government has never shown to be able to run things efficiently. They will cut also and deny you things so too.
Why? What is their motivation beyond a lack of incentive to be as efficient as a private sector company (which temptation is regulated to a degree anyway by the usual political processes)
If you give a national health organization $100M dollars of tax and say “spend it on healthcare” you may lose $10M to beurocracy, you may lose $25M but I, personally, would rather that than paying $100M of premiums to insurance companies and asking them to split it between healthcare, beurocracy and profit as they see fit.
I can vote with my wallet when Sony or Ford make a crap product but not many people have that luxury when it comes to healthcare.