Journalist F. Brinley Bruton writes about her experiences being treated for a urinary tract infection in London two weeks ago and compares it to her experience being treated for the same condition in New York City 10 years ago. Her article can be found here.
She feels that she was treated better in New York City, but her bills were astronomical in comparison to her bills for her London treatment. Her point can probably be summed up with her asking, “Would the elderly woman in my ward in London who repeatedly pleaded “Can someone help me please?” after being left on …read more

We post about the pros and cons of health insurance, and a bit about what the presidential candidates plan to do about it, but we have yet to (at least that I can recall) post the “real, everyday joe” perspective. Well, wait no longer because I have re-posted a blog post below from a friend of mine who is very thoughtful about just these kinds of issues. He (and I ) would be interested to hear your thoughts.
Originally written September 8, 2008
No Group Coverage? Well You’re Just SOL!
In the last five years, I’ve had the following conversation more times than …read more

These Trigon Blue Cross Blue Shield commercials may have been around for a while, I’m not sure. It’s a dreary day where I live, though, and I could use a good laugh and thought maybe you could, too. Kids saying cute things seems to always be a good way to get a message across. Enjoy!
Want to stay healthy?

Trigon has the most doctors to choose from. So you can get one you like.

Need a good doctor? **Be aware that this video contains the anatomically correct name for a male reproductive organ.**

A new report from the Commonwealth Fund indicates that 79 million Americans are suffering under the burden of medical debt or medical bill problems, or 41% of working-age Americans. This data hardly comes as a surprise, considering that 9 million Americans have lost their health insurance coverage since 2000. But are medical costs due only to the growing number of uninsured?
Are you struggling with debt or dealing with a pile up of bills because you are uninsured? Or, are you insured, but for some reason have found that your insurance doesn’t cover your medical expenses
I wonder what people who are …read more

Monthly premiums for Medicare drug plans will increase by 10%, or about $3, in 2009. Seniors, on average, will pay $28/month dependent upon their particular plan. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services says the increase is right in line with the increase in drug costs, but the Medicare Rights Center says that the increase is higher than the Social Security cost of living increase and that the government should be doing more to negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies.
Are you enrolled in a Medicare drug plan? If so, what do you think about the 2009 increase?
Sources:
image: picapp
“2009 Medicare drug …read more

New data from a survey by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) indicates that Americans may be foregoing health services to save money. The survey questioned 686 consumers of health care, and 22% responded that they have reduced the number or frequency of doctor visits.
While the NAIC should be commended for recognizing that lack of insurance contributes to people skipping doctor’s visits or not filling prescriptions to save money, more research needs to be done to quantify how many Americans with insurance are cutting back on health care service consumption as well. Even the insured may be subject to …read more

Watching Beijing’s Olympics Opening Ceremony (which was heartstopping), I started thinking about health care availability to the thousands of athletes and spectators during the games. I didn’t want to miss too much of the ceremony, so I just did a quick search, but this San Francisco Chronicle article informed me that athletes have access to 200 doctors and 400+ other medical personnel from 41 local hospitals in the clinic in Olympic Village. There is a serious lack of obstetric care, apparently, and although OB care is probably not in high demand by the athletes, it’s still a gross omission.
As for …read more

As reported by the Washington Post, CMS is attempting to jump-start the adoption of electronic health records/electronic medical records (EHR/EMR) and e-prescribing with a new program that will pay physicians and practices a bonus for using electronic prescribing tools. Practices that move to electronic prescribing methods will receive bonuses of 2% in 2009 and 2010, bonuses of 1% in 2011 and 2012, and bonuses of 1/2 % in 2013.
At the same time, the New York Times is reporting on Philadelphia area insurers that are offering bonus payments or increased payments to physicians for using tools such as telephone visits, e-mail “visits,” …read more

The Los Angeles city attorney has sued health care insurance provider Blue Shield for dropping policyholders (and allegedly doing so illegally) and “other deceptive practices.” The city attorney, Rocky Delgadillo, has already filed two other law suits against health insurance providers. The lawsuits all center around the practice of rescission — when a health insurance company drops an individual from having health care coverage after treatment has taken place, and then denies payment for the treatment to the physician, hospital, or other provider. Apparently, Blue Shield dropped more than 800 patients in this manner. The lawsuit is seeking $1 billion in …read more

The NYT editorial board has written a fantastic op-ed on the recent Medicare Bill and, by corollary, Medicare Advantage plans. As they say, Medicare Advantage plans (they do not mention them by name right away, but refer to them as “private plans that participate” in Medicare) are draining the resources we have available in this country to pay for senior citizens’ health care needs.
According to the op-ed, private plans now cover more than 20% of all Medicare beneficiaries. The editorial supports the move made by Congress to cut back on the subsidies private insurers make on these plans because they …read more