Cost of Health care and future eye self monitoring

Health care, at least in the US, has become very expense. It is almost a choice whether to get medications or food at times. I know other countries may have different and/or better systems of health care. As I have dealt with 'the system lately, due to my spouses hospitalization, I was struck by a number of things. One is the lack of scientic inquirery and critical thinking skills among direct patient care staff. I often thought of them as Stepford Nurses. Well, that being said, they earn very good money. Their time could be used in so many better ways. Also there is the cheezy cheapness of health care. The corners that are cut are just dumbfounding. How do you send someone home on injectable anticoagulants, they cant walk, dont understand, and you give them NONE. These are my depressing introductatory coments. My husband and I have Top of the Line insurance and pay 60% of out total income a month. When I read about how much Tonometers cost, I was shocked. Now I think that there is no way that any health care system in the US would ever approve any method of self care so expensive. Many folks cant get 3000 dollar wheelchairs. The power ones require abject poverty and the public system may cover it. In fact most health plans focus on doctor, medications and hospitals. Educational activities are not comvered. Self help is not covered. It is hard to envision a system in anyone's future where self monitoring by Tonometers would be feasible. No insurance company here would cover it and I doubt the public system would. I think it offers great hope and opportunity but how would this beomeavailable to the many people who could use it??

The only was I could see self monitoringbecome widespread was if it was similar to diabetics checking their own blood sugar. Maybe it would be eye drops that change color according to IOP ranges, or some litmus sticks that go up to a certain point on a list of numbers and say a range.

I am wondering how many people who self monitor have had improvements in visual field? Also, how many have had functional improvement,i.e.now I can drive, before I could not. If facts like this were present it would be worth publication. These would be measureable improvements. Eye pressures can vary so much and many have optic nerve damage that is not from high IOP. I would love to read research about how you have improved your vision or increased functioning. Increased functioning is often one of the criteria used to approve new methods oc care. The ultimate would be a person who functions and fully supports themselves (even without treatments). I am assuming the goal underneath self monitoring is to keep vision and improve vision. If these sorts of studies can be published, even case studies, I think more doors would open. Maybe there would be vision centers where one could go frequently to learn ways to meditate or use Yoga, Maybe self measurements could be easily available for people. I dont know who sharable tonometers are. I guess I am trying to think of ways what is being done here could be incorporated into the mainstream. The ability to use alternative means to manage pain even would like prevent much negative use of narcotics. Prescription drups are the most abused now, so they say, and pain is one of the treatable reasons. Even if I had any illness, such as my mother hadm pancreatic cancer, the illness itself would not be bad if the pain is tolerable. I understand there can be a viscious cycle of pain tolerance and then of course rejection of the pain and even hate. I think of my mother who lived an amazing time considering her condition. Shwe was on enough narcotics to send all of us to heaven. I think because she could tolerate her suffereing, she could live longer. The medical community does not really treat peoples suffereing. So back to the vision loss, if you could even use case studies, you might help change how the medical/insurance industries treat glaucoma.