Being a patient is getting harder in a strained and complex US health care system
Health care delivery experts say patients in the U.S. need more help dealing with a system that is growing increasingly complex
Tamika Davis couldn’t nap on her couch during cancer treatment. She kept worrying one of her toddlers would wander over and pull out the needle delivering chemotherapy.
Friends and family watched her kids when they could during her treatment last year for colon cancer. But Davis had gaps with no help because she couldn’t afford child care and didn’t know where to look for assistance.
“I did not have the strength nor the energy to try to navigate these things myself,” the San Antonio, Texas, resident said.
Patients are not getting enough help dealing with a healthcare system that is growing increasingly complex, according to researchers and other experts in care delivery. They say more frequent insurance complications, doctor and drug shortages, and a lack of communication all make life harder for people with serious or chronic illnesses.
“Just about anything you can think of, it’s now harder to get it done, basically,” said Elisabeth Schuler, founder and president of Patient Navigator, a business that helps people get through the system.
More care providers and employers are offering help guiding people, a practice the federal Medicare program has started to cover. But that assistance has limits.
Patients with serious or chronic illnesses face a web of challenges. They include:
— Coordinating doctor appointments and tests, often while working or undergoing treatment.
— Dealing with coverage denials or care delays due to insurer pre-approval requirements.
— Figuring out how to fill a prescription if they can’t get coverage or their medication lands on a growing list of drugs in shortage.
—
Read more on abcnews.go.com
