I'm proud of Kamala Harris today. tbh I was a little anxious before it started but she was impressive, and you are an example of the importance of presidential debates and how people's views can be shaped by them. I hope there are many people, like you, who watched last night and are now willing to reconsider their vote.
There is quite a few. Many friends of mine are shifting to Kamala after last night. One friend online told me he wanted to call her every racist word last night but struggled not to. The dog eating was also a real bad one
Update! Medical practices in this country are dog shit.... tried getting into 2 chico clinics to get my lungs checked out, and they told me it's weeks before they can see me, and they told me to go to the god damn hospital if its an emergency and they can give me a referal...
True on both counts. This rookie though, our first-round pick, Macklin Celebrini, sounds like he's going get the best mentoring, hopefully he can help get things turned around here. Celebrini says living with Thornton will be ‘perfect situation’ as Sharks rookie | NHL.com
Kat you need to get a "primary" care Dr. That way when you have issues you can see them as an "established" patient and when you have issues such as you are having now the will try to get you in as quickly as possible and get you a referral to a specialist.
I agree, it's great to have a PCP, but that's not a reality for many people. Around here, you need to pony up for concierge care if you want a provider who cares enough to try to figure out why someone has been so sick for almost a month. But everyone should have access to critical care as well as regular maintenance. I have a PCP but she's got a patient roster of 3000. I've seen her twice, for about five minutes each time. If I want anything (referral, med) I send her a note. I don't know what would happen if I got sick or needed real care. A lot of people are in that situation.
The purpose of a PCP is to handle the "routine" care, if they come across something that does not "respond" to the "usual" treatments, they then refer to a "specialist", which is one reason PCP's have become so reliant on "tele-health" after COVID lockdowns. Most "routine" care can be done via email or video visit, with a yearly in person check up. Even paying for a "concierge" will still only get you "routine" care with anything they can't "handle" seeing you sent to a specialist.
Most PCPs don't have the bandwidth for checkups. I haven't had one since my private practice MD retired in 2010. (I'm at what used to be the Palo Alto Medical Clinic, now Sutter. Kaiser is, I think, better. But nothing like the care that everyone used to get back before medicine became for-profit.) Many of the better family practice/internal medicine docs are doing concierge care only. But over the last few years, PE firms have been gobbling those concierge practices too. Profits go up, quality goes down
Unfortunately, we will all need to get used to this unless, of course, you can afford the "Concierge Medicine" monthly rates. My primary care physician is retiring at the end of the year and has told us that he has been trying to sell the practice, but no takers. Clinics & Concierges (and Zoom call & AI diagnosis) are our future. But at least the Quakes didn't lose last weekend!
By the way, anyone wanting to discuss the debate, here is the place: https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/f...e-only-one-tues-10-sept-2024-9pm-edt.2132419/ Warning that it's something of an echo chamber for Harris supporters but feel free to jump into the fray. Meanwhile, health care discussions are relevant given that Kaitlyn is still pretty sick and can't seem to get a doctor to want to dig in and figure out what's going on.
I had never even heard the term "concierge care" until I read some of the posts in this thread. I've never had a problem getting an appointment with my primary care physician, usually within a week's notice and sometimes sooner, and if need be, they will readily refer me to a specialist, who have also always been readily available. I have Kaiser but before that, a PPO, and I had good experience with a primary at Sutter, but maybe things are different now. I like the "one-stop shop" approach that Kaiser gives you even if the facilities are not necessarily great. Kaiser SJ has a real 70's vibe to it. But primary care, lab work, radiology, pharmacy, vision, rheumatology, physical therapy - I've used all of those services under "one roof". And data all in one place. And in my experience the doctors have been pretty good.
It used to be that way for me even 6 years ago... but my PCP office got bought by Stanford Health and everything is different now. Months for an appointment and he won't spend more than 10 minutes with you due to the number of customers requirement he has per day.
After my private practice guy retired, I was at Kaiser (Redwood City) for a while. The first PCP they assigned me, I'm not sure how she got through medical school. She spent our brief visit raving about my (not new or particularly nice) outfit and telling me that her dream was to be a fashionista. She didn't last there long. None of the Kaiser doctors I saw actually touched me. This was a first in my experience, cause I always assumed that basic checkups involved palpating the spleen, etc. Instead, they were more focused on "are you safe at home?" I get it, women often don't report abusive situations, but they didn't seem to want to accept my answer or really address anything else, like why I was actually there. This is the best book I've read on the topic of our miserable system: https://www.amazon.com/American-Sickness-Healthcare-Became-Business/dp/1594206759 It came out 7 years ago, and, sadly enough, nothing has improved since then!
Doesn't match my experience at all at Kaiser. I mean it's not medical wonderland, but it's not bad. I don't have any patience for going to a snooty place like Stanford and trying for an hour to park in their massive garage, and then navigating a giant maze and passing thru posh country club like amenities that don't help me. No thanks. I'll take humble Kaiser with its 70's era giant nature photograph wall hangings and generally dated but functional facilities.
I had Kaiser 30 years ago and it was perfect when you are young and Healthy. My parents had it and it's an whole other experience when you need specialists.
I have to travel all the way back to Brentwood to see my PHP. No one will take me im Redding, Chico, Anderson, Red Bluff or Mt Shasta. Theyre too booked up. Called the lung clinics in Chico and i have multi week waits