Archive for the ‘Costs of Care’ Category
Friday, September 18th, 2009
David Goldhill wrote an article for the The Atlantic titled "How American Healthcare Killed my Father". In the article, he uses his father's death from infection in a NY hospital to discuss healthcare reform and consumerism. David is a self-professed Democrat but he is concerned about reform's effort to disassociate ...
Posted in Behavior Change, Costs of Care, Universal Healthcare | No Comments »
Friday, September 11th, 2009
Davis Martin from CNN just wrote a new story on how to bargain hunt for healthcare services: http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/09/10/health.care.price.comparison/index.html
This is just one article in a larger number of writings recently that have started to focus on how to accurately calculate / negotiate the true cost of care (thus saving money by comparison ...
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Wednesday, September 9th, 2009
http://money.cnn.com/2009/09/08/news/economy/health_care_vaccinations/index.htm
There have been some interesting articles on how vaccination costs have risen to the point where group health insurance compensation is insufficient to support physician administration of vaccinations. In the individual insurance market there are even more complications - most benefit plans limit vaccination and preventive care coverage to $300 ...
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Friday, August 28th, 2009
Here are the top five procedure groups where a savvy consumer can sometimes cut cost by up to 80% of the market norm:
1. Heart Catheterization
2. Labor / Delivery
3. Outpatient Gastro-Intestinal Procedures (Colonoscopies / Endoscopies)
4. Advanced Imaging (MRI / CT Scan)
5. Back Surgeries
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Wednesday, August 19th, 2009
I have been surprised to see the dramatic increase in articles questioning the cost saving power of preventive medicine. See the latest article from the NY Times: http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/18/the-problem-with-prevention/
While I am not qualified to question or evaluate the validity of the points in the article, the round of questioning by many ...
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Tuesday, August 18th, 2009
Many consumers automatically think that outpatient surgery is more cost-effective than inpatient surgery. While the outcomes are generally the same and patient convenience may increase with outpatient surgery, inpatient stays are often more cost effective by a factor of 5X!
The reason is that outpatient surgical reimbursements often uses an old reimbursement ...
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Monday, August 10th, 2009
I had first hand experience this weekend using a significant amount of healthcare service for the lowest cost possible. Here is the short story: my two year old daughter had a fever and started coughing in her sleep Friday night. We use a pediatrician that is open on Saturday so we ...
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Wednesday, August 5th, 2009
We are seeing an increasing amount of billing abuse from surgical physician assistants who are balance billing patients the same gross charge as the physician - a cost usually between $5,000 and $10,000. The reality is that most insurance companies only allow these physician assistant to bill a quarter of ...
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Saturday, August 1st, 2009
$4 prescriptions exist for more and more medications. The problem is that most participating pharmacies choose to only offer $4 prescriptions in specific amounts and dosages. That means that you may not get the $4 price if your doctor prescribes you a dosage or an amount that does not meet ...
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Saturday, August 1st, 2009
I continue to read countless articles about the various healthcare reform bills that really do not have much to say other than everyone disagrees on how to move forward and whatever happens should cost more than financial bailout. Well, I guess there are tidbits about a public insurance option, increased ...
Posted in Costs of Care, Health Insurance Premiums, Universal Healthcare | No Comments »