What Irks You Most?

I really don’t care for being cut off in traffic by bad drivers, seeing divots not tamped properly back onto the fairway, (having to eat canned beets), plaid wall coverings, being interrupted whilst I’m reading or overly negative people attempting to bring me down.

But what REALLY irks me is the way that not millions but billions of dollars are spent by patients on medical services that could be better served!

Do you know that the largest reason for personal bankruptcy in this country is medical bills?

Whereas I do not feel that it is my life’s work to inform everyone of ways to save money, I know that we can all do much to keep down the cost of our own medical bills, and if we can all do our share, ultimately the health insurance companies, - the other MAJOR bane in my life – might charge a buck or two less!

As well as being a Chiropractor, I take the x-rays of my patients in my office. I can take exactly the images that I require.

Gonstead Chiropractors are very specific about the images that we want, a colleague of mine in another practice sends his patients to the local hospital to have x-rays taken. Without fail, they take extra x-rays that are not prescribed. This does not affect the co-pay of the patient, BUT it allows the hospital to bill for ‘procedures’ that were NOT prescribed NOR ones that are of any use to him. At the end of the day this increases profit for the hospital, bumps up the cost of your medical bill which you end up paying in your premiums.

High Cost

Let’s say you have low back pain. You go to your physician, he prescribes pain killers or muscle relaxants. You get temporary relief, you sleep through the night, but next the morning the pain comes right back.

Why do you think that is? The cause of the pain has not been addressed, but a chemical numbness has been induced.

You go back to the doctor after a week or so. He says, go and get an x-ray (we talked about that). Then go to have 6 months of therapy, (18 months in the case of one of my new patients) still taking the drugs at a co-payment each month plus a co-payment each visit to the therapist, you are still in pain. But guess what, the problem still exists; it has not yet been addressed. The health insurance company now starts to get angry about paying out for the same problem, so you now pay out of pocket for the sessions that sometimes make you feel good but do not eliminate the problem. You are tired of taking so much time out of your week to spend in a doctor’s office. Your body does not react so well to the drugs and you need a stronger prescription, your office manager thinks that enough is enough and you can’t take so much time off work. The pain still exists; it may in fact worsen because if you take the drugs to mask the symptom, you just might then do some thing which exacerbates the original condition. Your doctor then tells you surgery is the only answer. Do you know how much an operating theatre costs by the hour, let alone the fees for doctors, nurses, surgical supplies, and anesthesiologist? PLUS it may only defer your pain. Oh, by the way, statistically 90% of back problems are not solved by surgery.

How many people wind up in the ER every day for migraine headaches?  How much do consumers and government entitlement programs pay daily for the MRI and CAT scans just for migraines alone?  Mind Boggling!

Need I go on? We see this scenario time and time again.

Now I can’t guarantee success, but I can probably tell you what your problem is and begin to address it on your first visit.

A better, healthier, more cost effective scenario is this: You have back pain; you make an appointment with your chiropractor. You are seen quickly, a diagnosis is made and the chiropractor specifically adjusts your spine to decrease or remove the interference in your nervous system that is the cause of the pain. The chiropractor re-aligns your spine and your body starts to heal itself.  You may even feel instant relief.  Instead of drugs; low tech, analgesic, anti-inflammatory treatment is given (ice-pack). You receive a call from your chiropractor the following morning to check on your progress. You come to the office regularly for a while and the visits diminish in frequency as your progress continues.

Sounds so much better! Your body starts to heal almost instantly in the vast number of cases, you are not taking in toxins or narcotics, nor are you paying through the nose for the pleasure!

Consumers and insurance companies pay millions of dollars every day for expensive medical diagnostic testing designed to see what is wrong with a patient with typical musculoskeletal complaints.  Sadly, usually, they come up empty, when a good chiropractor could easily figure out that the cause of their symptoms is a vertebral subluxation.

I’ll get off my soap box for now…

Yours in Health

Dr. J B Whitlow