Floaters: An American Health Care Horror Story

Actually, it is not a horror story, but a story of dysfunction. It is one more reason why American health care is so expensive.

Ocular floaters are caused by clumps of collagen that form in the vitreous humor of the eyes. They cast shadows on the retina. This usually happens in older people, but I had a lot of floaters when I was a kid. I looked up into the clear California skies and wondered what those gelatinous blobs were. I spent most of my life ignoring them.

But since they become more common with age, they began to bother me. When I retired and started Medicare, I decided to do something about them. A local ophthalmology office advertised that they could eliminate floaters from your eyes. So I decided to do it. Laser was used to disperse the clumps of collagen.

It took five sessions. I do not recall paying anything for them, but Medicare paid a lot, I am sure, though of course I never saw these bills.

To begin with, five sessions were not necessary.

• In the first session, my eyes were examined by the ophthalmologist who advertised that he could treat floaters. But after he examined my eyes, he said that it was actually another ophthalmologist at his clinic who did it. Nobody told me this when I made the appointment.
• In the second session, another ophthalmologist looked for floaters and found them.
• In the third session, all I did was sign up for the use of the laser machine.
• In the fourth session, the ophthalmologist shot lasers at the floaters as he yelped like a cowboy on a bronco. (This was in Oklahoma.) In the few weeks afterwards, I could still see the floaters.
• In the fifth session, the ophthalmologist examined my eyes and old me the floaters were gone. I said I could still see them, but he told me I was wrong.

This brings me to the second point. The treatment, as far as I can tell, does not work. When I moved to France, I decided to not think about it anymore. But I developed diabetes, which requires annual retinal exams. During one of these exams, I asked the ophthalmologist about laser treatment of floaters. He said that they don’t do this in France, because it doesn’t work. I have since found that laser treatment is used only in rare and severe cases.

The worthless floater treatments I had in America took a lot of my time, but not money. But it cost the American taxpayers plenty. This is money that Europeans can spend on better health care than in America. I wonder how much American health care is weighed down by unnecessary and ineffective treatments.