Pricing this out, it's almost cheaper and easier to just get an order online that you can have handled at Quest and pay out of pocket than it is to deal with the hoop-jumping and co-pays that insurance requires. That's what I've started doing, because I know what I need done, and that way it takes me about 15 minutes on a lunch break, as opposed to eating up part of two days, scheduling an appointment to convince a doctor to order it and then having to go to a lab to actually get it done.
The other one that enrages me is the difficulty of getting drugs for common ailments that aren't sold over-the-counter. If I have bronchitis or strep, a zithromax pack will knock it out immediately, or if I get into poison ivy badly, I'm going to need some prednisone, but I can't just buy those, I need to have the gatekeeper sign off. I can probably go down to the pet store and buy them for my dog, though.
"Could be" is the key word. I made a dermatologist appointment a couple months ago to get some moles checked out. Couldn't get the doc I wanted as they were booked, so the receptionist asked me if a physician's assistant would be okay or if I would like to see a different MD.
"Will my copay be cheaper if I see a PA?", I asked.
"Absolutely not" was the response.
So why would I pay the same to see someone less qualified?
Incentives in the American healthcare system are extremely screwed up.
These are the sorts of developments that will help reduce the need to ration healthcare, and there is great value in its advancement and deployment being accelerated.
"It’s not unrealistic to think that 80% of what doctors do will be replaced by algorithms and artificial intelligence. The idea, evangelized by venture capitalist Vinod Khosla two years ago, is that machines can more accurately diagnosis us — and that will reduce deadly medical errors and free doctors up to do other things."
So, we're not going to have AI doctors per se, just doctors will have many AI tools to aid them in CARING for people. That seems like a good thing to me, but the headline itself is not accurate based on the text.
They should already be here. But I recently learned that our "enlightened" government decided to outlaw computer programs from making medical diagnosis.
How much could be done with a minimally licensed person doing most of the basic stuff.
1. look,listen to eyes ears, throat, heart, lungs - digital camera tied to a special lenses, or audio recording device
2. strep test - seriously I watch the my doctor swap my throat and put it in a little tub and shake.
3. taking blood - why do I need a doctor visit.
A lot of that could be charged a lot cheaper. And free up doctors, nurses for other tasks.