As I pass one of those round-number-birthdays, I've taken a somewhat detached look at my experiences with our health system. Once I hit Medicare age, I discover I spend far more time in waiting rooms than I ever used to. Is it because I now have far more aches and pains than I used to?

It would seem not, on reflection, but more and more symptomatic of the "working" of the system by the industry. I see a trend where suddenly I get referred to some specialist in the local med industry, and join the not-very-teeming throng who get cranked through a predetermined process not engineered to solve anything but to maximise the number of billable interactions. Why should we care because we aren't actually paying out-of-pocket but we are giving these entities free access to a Medicare account using our account number. Well, I do care, for it does call into question my role in the enabling of a purposefully crafted system that is taking on the appearance of something dark, cynical, and even unethical.

By "local med industry", I refer to those several entities who shall remain nameless but those living in south-central Pennsylvania will be able to name; we live on the border between several of them, and they all follow this pattern. This is not unique and, if this sounds familiar, you might want to take stock a bit.

I can cite several interactions which begin with a nice (billable) chat to hook you in, but no-one has read notes or why you are there. They ask you to explain it all while the meter is running. Then a test some months later, six weeks another billable chat, another test a month after that, and suddenly you are in that honey-trap. Several of these have lasted for a couple years, and none have improved my quality of life.

At this juncture, this round-number birthday, I'm putting an end to this. If someone says, "This is what's wrong and I can do this to fix it." I'm all in. Triage, diagnostics, treatment. My GP, my cardiologist, my orthopaedic surgeon who fused my back, I'm all in.

On the other hand, and recently more often than not, if it's a long string with no clear direction, and no improvement to quality of life, we need to recognise that and separate their mouth from the teat, even if the condition persists. We need to take real charge and start walking away from a bad deal. It's the only way to break this business model based on the mantra "A patient treated is account access closed." that is so pervasive especially amongst the "specialist" practices.

You could be having a lot more fun losing that money at the casino than losing it in the waiting room. Certainly, I have far more fulfilling and enjoyable things to do than spend an entire morning only to go away with no new info, no relief, but two new appointments. When are we going to get it?

Not only are there the benefits to your schedule (and bank account if you are paying co-pays for the privilege of letting them bill insurance or Medicare) for no tangible improvement in your lot, but you are doing something real about the unsustainable financial drain on Medicare itself. Understand we are giving access to this pool of money to the "providers" even when they provide nothing. In any other interaction, we'd be up in arms. No car mechanic that bills but doesn't fix would survive it, no restaurant, hotel, not any other entity that provides something for money gets the pass we enable here. If you want to save Medicare, perhaps the best way is to walk away every time this game is dealt.

Evaluate each of your post-pensioner interactions honestly. Do they propose some tangible diagnosis? Do they propose a treatment after diagnosis or are they just going down a (universal) list of tests everyone goes down? Is there an improvement in your quality of life? If not, you might consider accepting the fact you aren't going back to the painless days of your youth, learn to deal with those pains of age, and chances are good you'll find your life improving by your own knowledge of yourself far quicker and far more often than by relying on their involvement. Spend the time sorting what really are "conditions" of age from those things they will truly deal with, and you'll find yourself with a lot more time to do far more enjoyable things with your life. Every time you turn down an invite because you "have a doctor's appointment", think about why you do. If you want to truly live, the place to do that is not in the waiting room full of old Boomers.

It's time we stop falling for this nonsense, start enjoying our lives complete with the aches, pains, and conditions we can learn to deal with. Indeed we have to deal with them anyway while enduring the multi-year cycle of billable chats and one-test-at-a-time-off-the-list everyone gets put through regardless of symptoms. So why enable it and why pay for that privilege?

I'm not doing it anymore.