Doctors
The gynecological group that I have gone to for many years has decided not to deliver babies anymore. Why? Well, they have been around for awhile and the insurance has gone through the roof. What they have done is partnered with a hospital and have the young doctors who are connected with the hospital deliver the babies and be involved with the patients from early on. That way the hospital carries the insurance and it has saved them huge amounts of cash. Unfortunately that is what it has come to.
They have also added some new goodies to buy when you come to the office. A new specialized breast scanner. A new additional product that is used when having a pap smear which is supposedly more accurate. These additional items, that someone always asks if you are interested in when you come in for an appointment are additional costs not covered by insurance.
On one hand, I find it annoying that I am asked if I would like A, B or C. Feel like I am on the phone with Ticketmaster but on the other hand, I don’t blame them. The doctors are attempting to provide a higher level of care, and make some extra money on the side.
I have no idea how much they are reimbursed from my insurance company for the pap smear, the office visit, the sonogram etc. but when I leave I just pay $10 (my co-pay).
Doctors put in long hard hours from the beginning of their careers – think med school – until the end of their careers. Their knowledge is a gift to everyone of their patients. The HMO’s and insurance companies have changed the profession. Doctors no longer are able to make the money that they once were and I think they should. Doctors have found other ways to supplement their income, at least my gynecologist has.
Many doctors don’t even want to take the insurance in New York. The insurance industry has created doctors for the haves and have-nots.
When I was at the doctor yesterday and they were pushing their products, it just made me think and pause.
Comments (Archived):
In my state in 2003 I was paying 2600 a month( that is 2600 x 12 months) for a two person family membership for blue cross blue shield master medical, a fee for service with a $25 deductible and a 20 per cent co pay for out of hospital expenses. Blue Cross actually made a huge profit that year and instead of reducing premiums and or keeping them the same they made the deductibles higher and decided to not- cover some previously covered services and actually raised the premium again. Every year the premium continues to be raised. Blue Cross supposedly is non profit so it started some sort of charitable fund, yet I didn’t ask to contribute. My premiums are suppose to cover health care.
In that year, 2003, an article came out that the vice pres or cfo of Mass Blue Cross had taken the billing contract away from EDS of Texas( a Ross Perot company) and had saved huge amounts of money on processing claims for a couple of years previous to 2003. Since EDS had gotten a carte blanche to renew their contract for years with BC/BS of Mass., they were not vere competitive. Well, the person who was in charge is gone and I think they gave the contract back to EDS.
If you are an individual or a very small business,you pay huge amounts of money in premiums for less than great services. The new health plan in Mass. is only going to make it a crime for the marginally poor to not have health insurance so I am thinking that our situation in Mass. will NOT improve.
Blaming the malpracticise insurance is not the issue. Every business needs liability coverage of some sort.(Roofing contractor’s liability is high, because of the job they do and doctors do a job and sometimes screw up and they also need to be covered.) What if, God forbid, your doctor screwed up with the birth of Josh and you needed lots of equiptment and you could not pay for it? What then?
You are very smart and it would behoove you to to check out where your health care dollars go to when you pay your premiums in New York. Find out why we have DRGS and what happens when a hospital throws your mother out before the alloted time and who can split the extra medicare drg dollars which are then NOT going to the actual healthcare for your mother. Did you know that many doctors have to belong to Physician Health Care Services in order to get insurance reimbusements and PHCS have computer programs that tell you how many days you have to stay in a hospital with a particular condition. Yeh, you can question the programs,if you feel not justified in an early hospital release, but the doctor or nurse at PHCS has a job, because the health insurances employ Physicians Health Care Services to administer the drg’s etc. I wonder how much they get for this contract.
Joanne, you pay alot more than $10 for a visit to the doctor. Ask Fred’s benefit planner how much he pays and divide by all the people who work for him and who actually uses the plan and then you will get a true figure of what you pay for a visit.
As for the extra do dads at the doctor, dermatologists have been doing it for years with their own make-up lines and skin creams.
Ellen brings up some good points. I agree, from what I have read, that Romney’s plans in Mass are not going to be a panacea.
I’m paying $1,000/month for my daughter and me. My husband is on a separate plan–because he can get a less expensive policy. In Calif., if you’ve even had a fertility consult–not treatments, just a consult–you’re denied coverage. Since I fell into this category, I had to get insurance through the state fund. We are self employed. My coverage is excellent. Blue Cross PPO. I could save a few hundred bucks and go with Kaiser, but then we would have very little choice as to providers.
Arnold’s proposal, from what I understand, will do nada for me and I don’t believe in the approach. I’d like to see insurance companies compete across state lines. MORE market competition, expansion of Health Savings Accounts and other market driven policies are needed.
At one point in Calif, “riders” were allowed. So someone like me could secure a fairly priced policy with a pregnancy exclusion, but at some point riders were deemed discriminatory, so now perfectly healthy individuals are quickly denied for one reason or another.
I feel blessed we can affort the premiums we do pay and I also know we could move. California is expensive. But we feel the sunshine tax is well worth it.
Nice post.
I recently heard Gov Schwarzenegger’s plan for enabling all Californians to get health care, which involves a 2% tax on all doctors to help pay for the program. I’m not sure how this will go over with doctors..whenever they hear these kinds of things, they tend to close up shop and move to a friendlier state.
A lot of doctors enjoy practicing here in Indiana because of relatively low malpractice insurance. The health care industry happens to be Indiana’s largest employer, with education trailing closely behind. I do think medicine has become very robotic and sales-oriented–more doctors are questioning costs and legal issues first, then focusing on patient care. It shouldn’t be that way, but that’s the way it’s becoming.
On a completely separate note, can you shed some light on how you got the name “Gotham Gal”? Like Batman movies? I certainly do.