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Comment by ipaddr | Hacker News Reader

Doctors are not necessarily great at talking to patients and patients are unhappy with the information Doctors provide. This moat has dried up.

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If you prefer an LLM to a human doctor, you deserve an LLM instead of a human doctor, and I wish you get it.

Free markets and all that right?

Ok fellas put your money where your mouth is. It’s easy to talk until you put your money behind it (or lack of by getting rid of spending on it) if you are so confident in doctor as a service by llm.

Sign sam altman and his family up first. What's good for the flock...

I’ve been using llm as my personal pcp for 3 years now. I’m extremely pleased with the results.

I would use one for sure. Much of medicine is getting tests / labs booked fighting to get certain medicines. Doctors will barely give you 5 minutes only deal with one issue per visit, rarely are available and going into an office can make you sicker. An llm with Doctor powers could offer more. I don't think we are at the surgery point but we are past getting notes and medicine's refilled.

So why not order your own labs? I'm sure you can think of ways to get your own medications if you are sufficiently convinced that this is the best course of action for your health.

Because you can't order many of your own labs, and then insurance won't pay for them.

> you can't order many of your own labs

Really? Which ones?

> insurance won't pay for them

Non sequitur, replacing doctors with AI will not help you pay for the preposterous US healthcare system. Vote!

> > you can't order many of your own labs > Really? Which ones?

There are extremely short lists of labs you can order yourselves. Virtually all of them are not on those short lists?

I would love to hear of any specific example, I will happily either show you how to order it or learn something myself.

Arterial blood gas. Calcium score (may not count as a lab). Skin biopsy for cancer (does it count as a lab?). I'm unaware how to order my own troponin if I think I've had a heart attack (not that that's one I should DIY diagnosis). Prostate specific antigen.

Several of those are more procedures than labs. Of course you can't get someone to do a procedure on you for free. Arterial sticks and biopsies may have nontrivial risks (and commensurate liability risk for the performing provider).

PSA and troponin seem trivial to get. Did you look?

i do

Because paying hundreds of dollars for one minute of face time is so great

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