Today was a fasting day.
I went to the doctor this week. Fianna organise a preventive visit for me in order that I could get a prescription for a colonoscopy (considering my age and parental antecedent). The doctor was quite thorough and was happy to prescribe the procedure (which costs around €2,000). I know that this is a cost to social security and to insurance rather than to me but still I felt I should explore options. I explained that last year I had quite a few cameras and X-rays examining my insides and I would have thought they would have noticed if I had anything in my colon to worry about. After some debate we decided that I would do the less precise but much cheaper diagnostic test of my stool. Since I was there the doctor also suggested I do a series of blood analyses and she took my blood pressure. I don't have the results of my blood samples yet but it seems my blood pressure is slightly too high (although I have since bought my own blood pressure machine which indicates I'm fine). Clearly our medical system in Western Europe is amazing in its quality and universality, but this does come at a cost. In France we spend over €200 billion on our health system. That's more than the total amount we raise in income tax. Maybe we should at least make it visible. Every year Social Security could send you an health report which would detail how much "medical services" you consumed in the year and a ranking of which decile you are in compared to the rest of the population. Then we could start having a reward system. If you are in the bottom 10% 3 years in a row you get a pension bonus or a free holiday. The first step to responsibility is visibility.
I went to the doctor this week. Fianna organise a preventive visit for me in order that I could get a prescription for a colonoscopy (considering my age and parental antecedent). The doctor was quite thorough and was happy to prescribe the procedure (which costs around €2,000). I know that this is a cost to social security and to insurance rather than to me but still I felt I should explore options. I explained that last year I had quite a few cameras and X-rays examining my insides and I would have thought they would have noticed if I had anything in my colon to worry about. After some debate we decided that I would do the less precise but much cheaper diagnostic test of my stool. Since I was there the doctor also suggested I do a series of blood analyses and she took my blood pressure. I don't have the results of my blood samples yet but it seems my blood pressure is slightly too high (although I have since bought my own blood pressure machine which indicates I'm fine). Clearly our medical system in Western Europe is amazing in its quality and universality, but this does come at a cost. In France we spend over €200 billion on our health system. That's more than the total amount we raise in income tax. Maybe we should at least make it visible. Every year Social Security could send you an health report which would detail how much "medical services" you consumed in the year and a ranking of which decile you are in compared to the rest of the population. Then we could start having a reward system. If you are in the bottom 10% 3 years in a row you get a pension bonus or a free holiday. The first step to responsibility is visibility.
There are too many awesome ideas to keep track of on this blog!
ReplyDeleteSure ... I'll make it into my political platform next year.
ReplyDelete