Updated on Jun 30, 2022 | Health Navigator
Have you ever discussed the cost of treatment options with your doctor? Probably not!
The New York Times article noted “The shift, little noticed outside the medical establishment but already controversial inside it, suggests that doctors are starting to redefine their roles, from being concerned exclusively about individual patients to exerting influence on how health care dollars are spent.”
“In practical terms, new guidelines being developed by the medical groups could result in doctors choosing one drug over another for cost reasons or even deciding that a particular treatment — at the end of life, for example — is too expensive. In the extreme, some critics have said that making treatment decisions based on cost is a form of rationing.”
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Updated on Jun 30, 2022 | Health Navigator
The New York Times reported: “The Medicare open enrollment season, which runs from Oct. 15 through Dec. 7, gives individuals a chance to rethink it all and reassess whether their plan still fits their needs.”
“Elizabeth Cooper, a 68-year-old former elementary schoolteacher, weighs her options each year. She has already tried a couple of plans, including one through Medicare Advantage, which lured her in because it had no monthly premium. But the plan required her to shoulder a significant share of her medical costs.”
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Updated on Jun 30, 2022 | Health Navigator
Like most everyone I know I don’t look at the EOBs (Explanation of Benefits) I get from Medicare and United Health Care. Do you?
A New York Times article noted “LIKE most people, I am generally vigilant about paying my bills — credit cards, mortgage, cellphone and so on. But medical bills have a different trajectory. I (usually) open the envelopes and peruse the amalgam of codes and charges. I sigh or swear. And set them aside for when I have time to clarify the confusion: An out-of-network charge from a doctor I know is in-network? An un-itemized laboratory bill from a doctor I’ve never heard of? A bill for a huge charge before my insurer has paid its yet unknown portion of a hospital’s unknowable fee?”
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Updated on Jun 30, 2022 | Health Navigator
Don’t assume your doctor takes Medicare – ask and make sure! Otherwise you may get a surprise – a bill to pay and no reimbursement!
A Wall Street Journal article explained three options physicians have with Medicare claims.
“Fewer American doctors are treating patients enrolled in the Medicare health program for seniors, reflecting frustration with its payment rates and pushback against mounting rules, according to health experts.
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Updated on Jun 30, 2022 | Health Navigator
“Faster care hasn’t cut heart attack deaths in hospitals.”
A USA Today article noted “The Medicare metric for timely heart attack treatment is … “door-to-balloon” time — the time between when a heart attack patient arrives in the ER and when the balloon angiography begins — researchers found that the percentage of heart attack patients who die while in the hospital, about 5%, hasn’t changed.”
“Irreversible damage from a heart attack can begin in 30 minutes. Most tissue death occurs in the first two to three hours…” “A new study suggests that speeding up hospital care isn’t enough to save lives … A better predictor of survival might be ‘symptom to balloon time’…”
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Have you ever discussed the cost of treatment options with your doctor? Probably not!
