Have you noticed a lot more unethical behavior wi every kind of service since covid?

On the simplest level, nowadays if you dont ask for a receipt, its very common to have someone overcharge you by $200 on your credit card. (I use credit cards because I dont want to touch cash with all the germs)
The most costly, time consuming, and sometimes even life threatening phenomena seems to occur with doctors and dentists. I am family caregiver for my ex who smoked with diabetes and hence has 14 doctors. I see a lot more doctors than the average person. Their revenues are often down because of people not seeing doctors regularly to avoid covid (NOT a good idea), so you REALLY have to watch out for unnecessary procedures (they used to call them surgeries). Yes, there are still wonderful doctors, but if you dont research your disorder extensively and ask questions, you can end up with conflicting medications and worse. Recently I was having a lot of dizziness. Yes, I probably have vertigo, but with MS in my family history, I felt I needed an MRI (very expensive to the ins companies). Turns out I have a moderate blockage in the carotid in my head. They advise aspirin or clopedigrel for now. But I had better rein in my temper and exercise regularly. THE WORST I have experienced is something that seems to occur with various services, but for me it has been horrifying experiences at the dentist where I swear i have had many dental practices do things that purposely cause another problem so they have to treat that. IS THIS HAPPENING IN OTHER LOCATIONS, or does Phoenix have sub par care and services in general? This does not concern you young folk with perfect teeth, perfect health, etc. Same thing with home repair people. It must also be the horrible inflation. And I dont like either presidential candidate. Im a senior and I swear things weren't this bad before covid.

I think the phenomenon with healthcare givers is happening everywhere. I used to have a primary family practice, and we were overrun with people and constantly had to turn people away as I would sit and talk with them for as long as was needed. Plus, we scheduled with common sense. You don't put twenty-five patients in one room simultaneously to see one doctor. I will agree, as most Americans polled have indicated they don't like the apparent choices for the Presidency. I told my friend, you know who will win this next election. My reply is no one does, whichever way you go. I am fighting cancer now and was dropping weight like crazy. I was referred to a gastroenterologist, who scheduled a colonoscopy and never addressed my lack of appetite issue. I am unsure what has happened; I had to sue another doctor, who, while removing my gallbladder, somehow managed to get it dropped on my liver. They had to make a large incision down my back to get in and clean that up. I was told I would most likely be in the hospital overnight and was in with Pancreatitis for three and a half weeks. They settled when we entered the courtroom, and the medical provider left the state. My gallbladder experience was horrifying. I had to have my right lung removed, and while recovering, the overnight nurse was about to push an IM shot of a blood thinner into my IV. I was like, hey man, might want to check your PDR on that as I am not letting you do that. He was like, gosh, what a colossal mistake. If I had not known. I am sorry you are having a bad experience. That dental one sounds rough. Necessary does not equal because my health insurance will pay for it.

My doctor was very good during corona and he is still very good.

None of it is happening in my experience at all. No one is overcharging my credit card and dentist never caused me a problem so they can treat it and I never had unnecessary procedure. And I am not young or have perfect health.

One thing does happen is everything got much more expensive. Inflation is real.

No one is overcharging my credit card but yes, my doctors are trying to have me do every unnecessary thing possible. I am still angry that last year I trusted a dentist advice that I needed crown lengthening to fit crowns (for 600 dollars -- what I paid after insurance) only to, afterwards, tell me that it didn't work and now I needed implants. I haven't been back. I just find Dentists out of control.

My primary care seems like she has a list before I even walk in the door of useless things.

My gp is exceptional and works with me as a team which is what I strive for. Thanks!

Overtreatment in the United States - PMC.

Combating The Growing Rate Of Unnecessary Surgeries

Of course, it never happens, but the government organization charged with keeping up with such things says it is. Forbes Magazine and about 6,000 other sources also say it is. Your experience versus their data, hmm. I am an M.D. and have many friends who are. The first person I met when I came to the States was a trauma surgeon. He says it does; a single person's experience is meaningless when collating data.

I said “in my experience”. I understand my and my family’s experience is meaningless for you or when collecting data. It’s not meaningless for me. And I wasn’t collecting any data. I never said my experience is more important than Forbes magazine’s data.

At my age with medicare "advantage" plans I have found they are denying procedures & going for lower cost treatment. The good health care is no longer accepting their coverage. This is not my experience but that of many others around me.

Yes, I am one of the older ones & going to an MD doesn't work for me because of the horrible reactions I have to drugs including antibiotics. So I just avoid them all together. Problem is that insurance does not cover natural treatments when I really do get sick with something.

I have found unethical behavior in many other areas I am dealing with & it is wearing on my patience & making everything take longer to be resolved

I don't know if my answer is relevant considering I've moved from rural to touristy area to drug den and back and ended up in a relatively decent part of a small city, and in the different areas people just act different and approach their job different.

Up north (rural&conservative), I did notice a lot of people becoming more angry. Conversations at the gas station switched from "yuuup, old John oughta put his horse down. Cruel fccker won't shoot that miserable old thing with that broken back. Hey, you ever talk to Charley boy since he decided to waste all his money to read a few books?" to ranting about masks and democrats rigging the election and anti-science BS.

Only lived in the tourist trap for a few months in the winter. I was treated like shyt for the most part. Don't have prior experience to compare to, but I have a feeling they're weary from dealing with bike week, snowbirds, entitled skiers that think a $100 lift ticket is worth a bunch of bland trails on a 1,300ft vertical drop mtn but the lift to the summit is never open and the one good trail they have is never open, and leaf peepers. No breaks.

Slummy scummy place has been the same as far as I remember from when I was there as a young'un. Just more people dying from tranq and everyone but the users making a fuss out of it.

Wasn't here at all prior to the apocalypse, but people are generally arseholes until you get to know them, then they're nice, but then they get to know you and they turn into arse holes again.

Customer Service with Businesses has gotten much worse. They have no patience or respect for the person on the other line. And who wants to speak to a recorded message when you call the pharmacy, credit card company or any large retail business?
People don't really care about others. The bottom line is people care about themselves.
I've spoken to Crisis 6 times over the last 3 months and NONE of them listened to what I had to say and what I've gone thru and what I've tried the last 45 yrs! 2 of them hung up on me! And the 2 that hung up on me were referred by the Govn't Crisis Hotline!
Crisis told me to stop talking and listen. 2 of them told me I have to give medicine a chance and experiment with different doses and I told them THAT'S EXACTLY what I've been doing the last 35 years after taking 40-50 psych meds, 5 ECT trials (37 treatments total) and 99.9% of it didn't help! Then they told me I needed coping skills. I told them coping skills only work if you enjoy doing things. I've had anhedonia really bad the last 15 years and lost interest in just about everything I can think of and don't enjoy doing anything! Hospital nurses and techs love to talk about coping skills. They can't connect the dots. When you're plagued with a severe mood disorder for yrs and yrs and it effects your energy, pleasure and motivation you can hardly do anything for yourself anymore!

I think psychiatrists do that a lot when billing for the care they give to inpatients. Four years ago, I got admitted to a psych facility. The psychiatrist told my insurance provider that he spent 30 minutes each day with me. That was nowhere's near true. On some days, no "provider" spent time with me. My insurance paid him, and I got a bill for the co payments I would normally owe. I wrote his office a note saying that I would report the bill as fraudulent, if I ever got another bill.

I gave him a specific example. One day he called to me across the dining room and asked how I felt. I said I was doing better. So he gave me a "thumbs-up" and went to talk with another patient. I told him the date and time. I pointed out that being given a thumbs-up does not constitute 30 minutes of psychiatry. I never got another bill.

For almost 3 years, I've been seeing a gastroenterology surgeon every 8 months. He is a professor at a medical school who wants to operate on my stomach. I got referred to him because I had a bleeding ulcer. Well, it healed up about 2 years ago, and I have no problems or symptoms with it. But he keeps me coming back. He keeps encouraging me to have this surgery. I keep declining because my stomach feels fine. He's got surgical residents to train, and I think he needs more patients as grist for his mill. My regular endocrinologist says he thinks the operation would be overkill. So I'm not just being stubborn.

Healthcare inflation is one of the biggest drivers of the increasing cost of living. Most healthcare bills are paid by 3rd parties, so consumers don't provide much pushback. Plus, medical care is often thought of as a necessity. Plus, we get referred to specialists, who hold onto us way longer than they used to. Specialists, today, keep their calendars full by keeping many of their patients on perpetual "follow-up" visits, even after the specific problem has been sufficiently dealt with.

I was inpatient in 1994 (one of my 28 hospitalizations since 1990) and I saw the Dr for only 5 minutes and I guess I told him about my severe mood/anxiety disorders and racing thoughts and all he said was "We have to dial all that down a little".
I got a bill from him mths later for $245 for 5 minutes! I couldn't believe it and called the billing office about it and they said "Oh, he passed away".
And I tried virtual sessions with an experienced psychiatrist in 1997 and it was a disaster and felt it was nothing but a scam. I paid $215 cash every session. She didn't know what to do because all of my multiple symptoms and diagnoses and she said "I don't want to throw a bunch of pills at you right now but I want you to get a NeuroPych test". And she knew I was in distress the first visit because I broke down (and she told the staff who could have cared less). I told her I heard of thyroid augmentation in the hospital for mood disorders and asked if she would do it and she quickly researched it during one of my sessions and said she didn't want to do it and then she haphazardly put me on pristiq and after 4 wks I felt so horrible I had to be hospitalized at Johns Hopkins. I got nowhere with her after 3 mths so I will never try virtual visits ever again!
I took the NeuroPsych test a yr later and it was an awful experience! The psychologist gave it to me over the computer and she didn't show an ounce of emotion after I told her what I've been thru since I was 13 and all the symptoms (mood/anxiety disorder, agitation, severe dissociation in teens/20s/30s) and all diagnoses I've had. I got her 5-page summary of the test and all she did was point out my problems and she didn't analyze what was causing my problems at all. She said that I "ruin my attempts at getting better due to negative thinking and self-doubt and I had to rely on people and didn't want to be independent and that therapy didn't work because of lack or pleasure and motivation" (and she said I had avoidant and schizoid personality disorders). Well, yeah! When you have a severe mood disorder most of your life you develop anhedonia and poor energy and can't do or enjoy anything anymore! She went on to say "I needed to confront my anxiety with my therapist and in social situations and that I would most likely fail at doing this". The report served NO purpose at all for me or for any professional involved with me so I will never get another one done and I will never go back to this place that gave it to me!

I have not been overcharged for anything before or after covid. I decline receipts all the time and have never been charged $200 or even $2. My biggest complaints are with dental places and that hasn’t changed since covid. They’ve always ripped peoples off.

So at my last doctor's appointment my doctor put in labs for tests that I didn't need. In fact, I told her.. I had those labs at another location the day after her appointment. I asked that they be removed. She told me she had. I told her that my insurance now charges a fee for lab tests so I can't have extra ones.

Yesterday went to get the one test I had authorized. And I asked the woman what I was getting. All the tests I had asked be removed were still there. Good thing I asked.

I got the one test I had authorized.

I asked to get them removed again.... but they are still showing up on my portal.

I am sorry but I think this is done because my doctor had a minimum amount of labs that she needs to order at visits... and so she continues to try to get them run. By leaving them there she complies with something internal even if I don't get them run.

It is so absolutely infuriating.

I feel the same way. I go to the doctor for one thing and they always want to send me for tests for various other things I have no symptoms of. I think they may have quotas in their health systems or get kickbacks. I'm getting to be like eskielover where I haven't been to an MD for a while.