Hey gsd, these days if you are not a PIA, you get run over; sad, but true!
But in the case of Hans, we all already know that he’s a PIA - an urbane, genteel one for sure - and he’s probably pressed his case to the max with his doctors.
But his health care system is simply not paying for what he really needs - PSMA PET and genomic testing. And we know that those can cost a lot of money…he’s stuck!
His only option is to pay for these out of pocket - which may not be doable.
I mean, we here in the US have the ability to almost self direct our own treatment IF we have the means to do so. Without that you are usually on Medicaid ( not MEDICARE) and you receive the minimal care necessary; the fees are poor and drs can’t waste time treating you like a private patient.
That last sentence sounds cruel but it is the truth; I have seen it many times in dentistry ( which is chump change compared to medicine) where a dentist has committed actual billing fraud (claiming they did all this treatment when they did not), or worse, mutilating someone’s mouth, drilling teeth, pulling teeth, doing unnecessary root canals - all of this in perhaps a 2 hr time span! - in order to get the most bucks they can. It’s sick.
So from my perspective, knowing just how badly patients in a price controlled environment can fare, Hans is probably getting pretty good care. I mean, we all want the very BEST CARE, but reality is sometimes something else. Best,
Phil