[heroprotagonist]

Unfortunately, "do no harm" has become "cover your ass". This often translates to a slew of expensive test procedures before one can get diagnosed and treated, which deters patients from seeking medical care.

eg, at one point I had to go through ~$2500 out of pocket sleep studies (after insurance, probably 2-3x that in actual price before deductible limit kicked in), in order to get a $35/month (copay limit, $150 ticket price) _subscription rental_ of a CPAP machine.

A year or three later I found out I could have bought a similar CPAP machine with autocalibration for about $400 online. I would not have had to spend a few nights in sleep studies or repeated doctor visits to "justify" the continued rental.

Plenty of people who should have known the easier and cheaper route, and were explicitly supposed to be my expert advisers in the subject, never pointed this out. They all just padded their bottom line citing the "need to be sure" as rationale for the tests before risking me being unnecessarily uncomfortable at night if I hooked up a machine I didn't need to.

It was mostly the insurance company being ripped off, but a significant chunk of time, money, and effort came from me. I was not amused at the outcome.

[octokatt]

Hard agree. Have gotten to play this dance with getting migraines treated. To get the treatment I know works, I had to try taking a medication both me and my doctor were reasonably certain would make me sick.

Sure enough, the medication made me so nauseous I missed two days of work. Then I got to stop taking the medication, and go through withdrawal. Thanks, insurance companies.