Irene Ryan

Remember Irene Ryan? No? How about Granny on the Beverly Hillbillies – yeah, that’s her. No, not the Granny from the movie version – the REAL Granny from the TV Series.

Oh, how I loved (and feared) Granny as a little boy. She was a great character brought to life by a very talented actress.

Granny was a force of nature – someone you did not want to mess with. Even when Granny did something so wrong and backwards, no one would dare challenge her. Mostly, this involved her practice of Backwoods medicine.

Even though her homespun cures were harsh, they were also (usually) effective. Of course, today Granny would probably be arrested for practicing medicine without a license – a serious crime in this country – unless, of course, you work for a health insurance carrier.

You see, it is usually up to your physician to determine what treatment and medicines you require – or at least that is the way it is supposed to work. After all, who knows your conditions better then your own doctor? Who is better trained to diagnose and treat you?

Somehow, this has all changed over the last 20 to 30 years. Now, increasingly, it is your health insurance carrier that makes the call as to what medicines and treatments you receive. And these decisions are being made by people who usually are not licensed physicians in the State where you live, or even physicians at all.

In extreme cases, your Doctor can sometimes fight your insurance company so that the treatment and medicine you need are covered, but this is not usually the case. Even when the Doctor is successful, it is the end result of hours of additional testing, phone calls and letter writing – all of which costs you and your doctor time and money. So, for most people, this boils down to your health care being decided not by a licensed physician, but by a bureaucrat at your health insurance company. And yet, these paper pushers are never held accountable for their actions (or inaction). When your health insurance carrier makes medical decisions regarding your care, they are, in fact, practicing medicine without a license. Still, they have been getting away with this practice for years, and almost no one raises an objection.

I don’t know about you, but if were ill, I would rather trust decisions about my treatment to my Doctor, or, at least, to Irene Ryan (as Granny) as opposed to Cindy in the Pre-Authorization Department.

In fact, I feel a case of the sniffles coming on as I write this. I think I’ll just mosey on down to the c-ment pond and set a spell.





Wooo doggy! I feel better already!



***** Found this Interesting, Entertaining or Informative? Please read the complete blog at: *****
http://healthcarehullabalo.blogspot.com/

Free Blog Counter