The hosts of this very enjoyable and informative forum tout the fact that it "gets a million hits a month" which is quite impressive. So far there have been 42 responses to the survey. What's up with that? Seems kinda low.

Let me give you all an example of this health care problem. On Wed I saw a very nice young lady who was having a very unpleasant discontinuation reaction to a medication she was taking but had abruptly stopped. She was a single parent, had recently lost her job (economy) which WAS providing health care benes. She could not afford to continue the coverage under COBRA, she could not afford to refill her prescriptions and now comes to see me on an urgent basis because of the complications of abruptly stopping her meds. This isn't a "rare case".
I would estimate at least 25% of the meds, therapies or diagnostic studies I order are "denied" by insurance reviewers as "not medically necessary" or because there is a cheaper alternative. Folks, this is rationing. At least with a single payor system I'll know the rules and who I'm dealing with. It is impossible to know which insurers allow what, cover what etc. The pts are stuck in the middle..... they come in and say "my medication was denied.... YOU need to call 1-800-nooneeveranswers to get "prior authorization" This is why I have pleaded with my son to NEVER leave his position as a US Army physician. Our current system is insane.