In Copiosis, everyone enjoys “Necessities” at no cost to anyone. I’m committed to this becoming everyone’s reality. Last week I had a healthcare experience which confirmed and amplified my commitment. The experience was so great, so satisfying and so complete, I couldn’t believe it. Riding home, I thought about how my experience exemplifies how super high-quality healthcare can be for everyone in Copiosis. And, it needn’t cost anyone a dime.
The US Government provides the healthcare I received at no cost to me. That’s because I served the United States as a US Marine for nearly a decade. That qualified me for Veterans Administration (VA) health benefits.
What I’ll describe in this post is the extraordinary hospital experience I had today at the VA. Then I’ll explain why it exemplifies healthcare as I believe Copiosis will provide everyone world wide.
The setup
I’ve seen many healthcare providers in my lifetime. They include military healthcare while in the Marines and HMO (provider “planned” healthcare) services through my employer when I was a federal employee. After that I had private health insurance. Then, as an entrepreneur I used private “on call, a la cart” healthcare due to its low costs.
I’m sure everyone reading this knows what those experiences are like. You’re one of many patients the doctor sees in a day. He or she spends as long as they can with you, but they’re driven by insurance cost equations and protocols designed to balance care with maximizing profit. As such, visit in those circumstances never felt like providers provided for me. Instead they just tried treating whatever symptoms I shared.
Recently, my sister-in-law, who is a VA administrator, asked why I hadn’t taken advantage of my military benefits. Looking into it, I qualified for comprehensive, no-cost medical care, including no-cost prescriptions, surgeries and other speciality care and a host of other treatments. All at no cost.
I had my first appointment this week. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Was the service good?
The service wasn’t good. It was effing AWESOME. First, I knew they considered me special because of my veterans status and how they behaved towards me. Their communication, both electronic and “snail mail” were top notch and frequent. They even sent me a booklet, that was obviously printed especially for me. I know this because it featured my name printed throughout the text.
That may sound like a small thing. But to me, it told me they cared about ME, personally.
The VA hospital sits atop a hugely valuable hill in the West Hills of Portland. It’s adjacent to Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU), a premier, internationally-known teaching and research hospital. What I didn’t realize was OHSU Residents staff VA hospitals. Attending doctors supervise their work. This means veterans get some of the best, leading-edge care from providers coming right out of leading universities, such as OHSU.
Personalized service
The first person I saw was a Licensed Nurse Practitioner named Sherrie. She told me she’d been with the VA “since we started with paper charts”. Like me, she was a veteran. Her caring demeanor set me at ease the moment we met. She made sure I knew my queer status would be respected throughout the hospital and that they had all manner of services available for queer patients including transgender medicine (I’m not transgender, but that was cool to hear).
Sherrie spent an ENTIRE 45 MINUTES talking with me about procedures at the VA, what I can expect, the structure of care and more. After that, she told me I’d see my resident doctor, one Mark Prasad. That visit would be followed by his attending physician.
When Dr. Prasad came in, his age surprised me. He looked incredibly young. But when I asked about his tenure at the hospital, how many patients he sees and his specialties, his answers put me at ease. Dr. Prasad was in no hurry at all. My sister says VA doctors enjoy much smaller patient loads than private docs, so they spend way more time with each patient. Dr. Prasad spent over 90 minutes with me.
Gritty details
We talked about my medical history and things I thought needed attention. Then we also talked about things he thought I should avail myself of, including a battery of tests and vaccinations (such as one for Shingles), preventative tests for people my age and more. Then he recommended me to the labs for bloodwork, and a gastroenterologist for a condition that needs attention. All that made right at that moment, the same day. Nothing for me to do at all.
After Dr. Prasad and I finished talking, he gave me a physical, then conferred with his attending physician. In a little while that guy came in and we chatted about what I told Dr. Prasad. The three of us also talked about my special approach to well being, which asserts that my physical body is a reflection of my thoughts and beliefs. My thoughts and beliefs being the first stage of maintaining positive bodily well being.
The fact that both of them took my perspective seriously impressed the hell out of me. Both acknowledged limitations inherent in Western Medicine. They also agreed about the mind’s remarkable influence on the body. The entire conversation engendered confidence that these two men were in my corner.
After seeing those guys, I went to the blood lab. Ten minutes later, they had my blood and I was out the door. No copay, no insurance conversation. In and out. I expect the same service when I see the gastroenterologist. Total time at the hospital: two hours, 30 minutes. All of this totally free (to me).
No Cost can be high quality
Indeed, from the first communication to the moment I walked out of the hospital everyone treated me like a special person. Even other vets I talked with were friendly and in good moods.
Huge advantages come from the VA partnering with high-quality teaching hospitals. For one, the VA gets leading edge providers, coming out with the latest practices. Second, residents get ample patients with whom they can develop their practice. Patients get the kind of treatment experiences I got, where everyone spends all the time needed to address whatever needs addressing.
Residents are done with medical school and are in their on-the-job phase, which can last up to six years, I think. Because they are still in their education, they are motivated and committed to offering their best possible care. Their attending physician is grading them after all. I could tell the difference for example, between Dr. Prasad’s focus on me and his attending’s focus. The difference was STARK.
That the doctor seeing me has skin in the game is a huge benefit psychologically, emotionally and when it comes to diagnosing things. What’s more, because residents work with attendings more brains get focused on the patient, with the attending questioning the resident’s approach. That, in my opinion, leads to better, higher-quality care. Finally, since the resident need not worry about turning a profit, they don’t feel rushed. That means better care too.
This is Copiosis
The whole experience knocked my socks off. That’s the kind of service I believe medical practitioners will give everyone in Copiosis. When money and profit and constraints those things drive go away, why wouldn’t they? Also, people passionate about caring for others will likely go into such fields. So such people will act out of their passion to serve, making what they do and how they do it an expression of that passion.
Like VA doctors, practitioners won’t feel pressure from HMOs to see a certain number of patients. So they can spend as much time as needed. And, presumably, they’ll do such work as an expression of their commitment to care, instead of making money. Of course, since keeping people healthy, returning people to health and treating trauma all produce Net Benefit Value, they’ll receive a lot of Net Benefit Rewards (NBR) . And so long as those people remain healthy, they’ll keep getting NBR.
A funny thing just happened. While writing this post, just now, Dr. Prasad called. A same day response! How often do you see that? And from the doctor directly! He said I need more blood work and recommended I come back to the hospital in a couple weeks, again at no cost. This video shows how Copiosis gives people all their Necessities at no cost.
I strongly feel this kind of proactive, complete service will be everyone’s experience in Copiosis. It won’t be reserved for those who can pay a lot. Or those who served in the military. Or those in developed countries.
It’s more than healthcare
Hi quality “Necessity” goods and services includes all kinds of healthcare delivered at the highest quality. But it also includes high quality, nutritious food, high quality, serviceable clothing and housing on par with luxury standards today. Like doctors, providers of these things will offer such goods because their passions align with that. As such, I expect the quality of such goods to be very, very high.
They also will come with the lowest resource costs, making them highly environmentally-friendly. That’s because our algorithm rewards more NBR for production and manufacturing methods which are light on the environment.
My VA experience makes the time I served in the military totally worth it. Getting this quality of care, at no cost to me, is incredible. But what’s even more awesome is, the experience confirms what healthcare CAN feel like. Not just for veterans, but for everyone.
That’s what Copiosis offers. And that’s why I’m committed to its unfolding.