How much do you pay for health care?

I know Healthcare IT is the place to be. HIPAA requires so much in the way of privacy and the push to EMR, money is MADE in IT. It's not just the people who treat patients that make money, it's all the companies around healthcare that make money.

 

Fucking it up big time does not even come close to describing the fiasco of our implementation of EMR.
The right words probably haven't been invented yet.

 

Well I'm ready for the shit cleaner upper guy to show up.

 

This is why you need one standard, and a winner. Even if it is a monopoly that has strict government oversight.

My doctor has upgraded a little, and she was able to pull up the results of a test I had done 3 months prior on the screen in the room. But, where was the CT scan or the X-Ray I had done on my kidneys? I paid $1000 and the health insurance paid $4000 for them. I would think that a copy would have been sent to both my doctor and the urologist to show me.

My sister works in the healthcare field and she told me that different hospitals can't import the data from other hospitals if they are on different systems. And I wonder how many people get less than the best care because a doctor at a distant hospital can't pull up their record quickly when they have an emergency?

 

Can't imagine what this guy's private medical costs would be/whether he would have made it, thanks to the 2nd biggest organisation on the planet next to the Chinese Army. NHS ftw.

 

I just checked my pay stub, and I pay $25.74 every other week for my insurance, $58 and change into the retiree healthcare fund (the union negotiated to have us pay 3% of our salary for 10 years into the fund, which not only offsets the cost of retiree healthcare, but gives the union leverage in future negotiations because it's a lot harder to get rid of a benefit if we've already paid into the fund,) and $0 for dental.

I'm required to get a physical every 3 years at my age, checkups every 6 months for my blood pressure, diabetes, and asthma, two dental cleanings/checkups, and a vision/general eye health checkup. The mandatory checkups are 0 copay, and I get a $100 refund at the end of the year if I have all of them done, otherwise I have to pay an extra $100 per month in premiums. The copay for non-cosmetic dental work is 10-15% of the total cost for amalgam or composite fillings, gold fillings cost more.

Copays are $5 for generic prescriptions, $10 for brand names, and $25 for non-preferred (mostly brand names for which generic alternatives are available, i.e. Tussionex cough syrup instead of a generic codeine or hydrocodone for severe cough,) $0 for maintenance drugs for chronic conditions (my lisinopril and metformin are free, Advair costs $5 for a 90-day supply,) and some are lower than the standard copay, like my zolpidem (generic for Ambien,) which is $3.79 for 30 days' worth. All prescriptions are covered, no exceptions, and I get a special CVS Caremark card that gets me 30% off of almost everything store brand. Primary care copays are $10 per visit, specialists are $10, no referral needed, urgent care is $0 copay, and ER is $0 copay for real emergencies, $35 if it's determined that an urgent care or PCP visit would have been a viable alternative. Ambulance transportation is $0 copay if necessary, life flight (air ambulance) is $0 copay if necessary. There are no coverage limits.

 

Those required checkups certainly make sense from their perspective. The last time I had any kind of doctor's visit aside from a dentist's office was my termination physical in the navy, and that took a direct order from a Lt. Commander. Certain people have been fond of saying I should go to a doctor to have my knees looked at, but that is not likely to happen anytime soon. Especially when my definition of "pain" is involuntary tears.

 

I've always been the kind of person to put doctor's visits off, I love the incentive of mandatory checkups. Since they implemented them, I've lost 25 pounds, my blood pressure has dropped by 20/10 points and is in normal range (literally every one of my blood relatives has high blood pressure that requires medication, so only needing 10mg of lisinopril is an accomplishment,) and my Hemoglobin A1C has gone from 6.7 to 5.9 (5.7 is the lower limit for diabetes.) Forget the reduced cost in the almighty taxpayers' dollars, the program has helped me get healthier and I'll probably live ten years longer because of the beneficial changes I've made.

 

Oregon provides a good example how the state insurance exchanges being created under the ACA to provide insurance to individuals and small employers will make private plans more open and competitive:

And this is before a rate board certifies that the proposed premium rates are justifiable and the insurance companies certify that they meet the new medical loss ratio standards.

Oregon Rate Board

 

Oregon does alot of things right...best election system in the country, highest (or close to the top) state minimum wage in the country, greenest state in the country (or maybe second to Vermont) with lowest carbon footprint per capita...and now you can add health care to the list.

 

I pay ZERO. Don't have any health care and hope I stay healthy. I've found that lots of people don't pay and live on the "dole" here OMG!!! America! So although I'm white and have a B.A. and tons of work experience, I'm over 50 and white and CAN'T afford healthcare. OMG! Am I embarrassed? Hell no, if illegle imigrants get treated at hospitals than Me - an American born citizen can play the same game. Fuck "Em all. I've paid taxes for over 50 years. Boya!