Empowering Patients

I always get sticker shock when I see an EOB (explanation of benefits) from my medical insurance provider and can't help thinking about those who have no insurance. The numbers are bizarre to say the least - seven minutes of a doctor's time and some a routine blood test was billed at over five hundred dollars by the doctor's office the last time I saw one of these. To call this a rip-off seems like an understatement. Whatever the underlying reasons for these numbers to be as ridiculously high as they are, there has to be a better, smarter way to get the job done at a cost that is reasonable.

Reading this NYT article on how one engineer repurposed a cell-phone to work as a microscope gives me hope. It should not be in the too distant future that people can run basic tests from home using low-cost kits that can be hooked up to a cellphone. Potentially, they can patten match their readings against the public domain databases and understand their condition.

Thanks for the abundance of medical information online, people are already much better educated and informed about their condition than they had the ability to be in the pre-internet days. Having the tools for running diagnostic tests at home will only make this better. A patient can in the future consult with a doctor, fully armed with the data points needed to make a prognosis. What currently takes several visits and tests can happen over a single consultation. Besides the cost and time savings, the empowerment of the patient this would provide is of considerable value.

Under Influence

A while ago, I read about the genesis of birth control pill which in turn prompted this blog post. Today, read about the pill again and how it influences a woman's selection of a mate - in a negative way. If there are certain male traits that a woman on a pill finds attractive or not, chances are that it will be among the driving factors in who she selects as a mate. This would be true for those who are on it most if not all the time. However, things can get confusing if she goes on and off it. Who and what she found appealing while on it may not be quite match her preferences once she is off it.

When it comes to relationships, the exercise of free will is a challenging proposition even in the best of circumstances. Apparently, a bunch of chemicals have the ability to consume what little is left of it. This is a lot like picking up someone at a bar in a state of inebriation and finding out they were all wrong the morning after. Except, after the hangover has worn off, the woman has to contend with the baleful influences of her morning after patch. How ironic that the thing that was supposed to have done the most for the cause of female liberation, is now turning out to be what ends up making women do things that they may have not have otherwise done - in essence, the very antithesis of liberty.

Memory Aid

Recently at a CVS near my house, while I was waiting for the pharmacist to help me, I spent my time checking out the wide assortment of pill boxes on sale. Each contraption was obviously designed to help people remember to take medications on time and while being easy to access. While it was fascinating to see how much energy had been invested into solving this very common problem, the chances of any of the systems in being really helpful seemed slim.

Now, the Glo Cap Connector with its ability to play increasingly insistent melodies to prompt us take our medicines is likely to be a lot more effective. While they are at it, they might want to embed a little something in the pills to make sure we are actually eating it and not flushing it down the toilet.

Alternative Medicine

It is heartening to read that alternative medicine is going mainstream in America in that insurance companies are willing to pay for such treatment. My personal experience with the medical system in this country has been mixed at best and I try to stay away from it as far as possible. Then one hears the horror stories from those who have loved ones suffering from serious ailments - along with the predominant themes of out of control medical expenses, there is also the one of managing the symptoms without root cause analysis or complete cure.

To me the later is the terrifying part - it feels like once you fall into the system, you can't always come out of it. It is not surprising that people will seek a better, less expensive way to deal with their illnesses - one with a finite end point in terms of time, treatment and money spent. Considering all this in light of the fact that about 60% of the bankruptcies in America are a consequence of medical bills makes you really wary about the system. It is about time that customers were given a choice even if critics of that choice dub it Snake Oil Science.