[Magdalen] health care...

Tue Oct 20 22:46:04 UTC 2015

Thanks for your info Eleanor. I continue to confuse the two different 
Medis.... it is Medicare.

 I got my first letter for the next insurance season from my health carrier: 
United Health / Golden Rule.

After a bit of difficulty I looked up what they are calling my summary of 
benefits but they are for this year, not next. All 'research is untouchable 
online (and I presume through agents) until Nov 1 and then I can't wait for 
the online chaos to ensue! LOL.... I waited over an hour on the phone 
several months ago to ask a question and thankfully did get the answer to 
one of 2. The second question was: "what will my 2016 premium be?", and they 
told me to watch the mail. Today's letter was not that info, and where it 
led me online was absolutely nowhere in regard to *my* coverage in the 
future, or to my cost for the same coverage again next year. I did note a 
*new* section addressing the very issue I wrote about earlier.. testing for 
issues that are not preventative. I wonder if there is a fine line when a 
medical issue runs in the family - is testing for that preventative or 
diagnostic? Or does it depend on when/what the test results show?

  I am hoping the letter with the premium price does arrive and I can deal 
with the anticipated increase and not have to enter 'the arena' again... 
it's like walking into the lion's den.  In just a few short years (maybe 5?) 
how could insurance have become so difficult, so much more costly and so 
confusing?

Lynn

website: www.ichthysdesigns.com

When I stand before God at the end of my life I would hope that I have not a 
single bit of talent left and could say, "I used everything You gave me." 
attributed to Erma Bombeck
 "Either Freedom for all or stop talking about Freedom at all" from a talk 
by Richard Rohr

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Eleanor Braun" <eleanor.braun at gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, October 20, 2015 2:48 PM
To: "Magdalen" <magdalen at herberthouse.org>
Subject: Re: [Magdalen] health care...

> Note - you will be applying for Medicare, not Medicaid.
>
> I'm on Medicare with a Medigap policy from my last employer - the Federal
> Government.  Everything has been easy as pie as I've gone through surgery,
> chemotherapy and followup exams.  I haven't had to pay a dime, and don't
> have to worry about anything.  I get EOBs (explanation of benefits) from
> Blue Cross/Blue Shield, my Medigap coverage, when I have appointments, but
> those are just for my information.  Medicare gives me an annual statement
> about what was spent.  This is only one step away from single payer, and I
> would hope that we can get there sometime.
>
> On cancer treatment, there was a fascinating series on PBS, called 
> "Cancer:
> the Emperor of all Maladies
> <http://video.pbs.org/program/story-cancer-emperor-all-maladies/>."  It
> tracks how scientists have gradually learned more about the disease(s), 
> and
> how each step forward was seen as the magic bullet, until they found out
> that it wasn't.  Now scientists are moving into immunotherapy, the newest
> magic bullet.  What I came away thinking is that great progress has been
> made against cancer, there is still a great deal to be learned, and we 
> have
> to just keep working toward the assortment of treatments to make it less
> fatal and extend the quality of life.
>
> Eleanor
>
>
>
> On Tue, Oct 20, 2015 at 1:03 PM, Lynn Ronkainen <houstonklr at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> just another turbulent topic in the news... Health Care..
>>
>> What do you folks think about all the recent (several years now)
>> information that decades of cancer treatments have been ineffective in 
>> far
>> broader ways than the general public was aware, 'discoveries' about the
>> need for less mammograms/pap smears, , etc, etc, etc... For me this has
>> translated into what my insurance company will allow based on US 
>> Government
>> *guidelines*... and I am beginning to become a bit cynical about how much
>> more the government is going to 'discover'  that will affect insurance
>> coverage.
>>
>> I'm already waiting for my annual exam to see how it is 'billed'. A 
>> friend
>> told me that her one annual exam this year (a few months ago) was billed 
>> as
>> two (one covered by insurance, one not covered but shifted to her
>> pay-to-reach-deductable category). Her regular exam, considered
>> 'preventative' (a big huge tenant of the National Health Program 
>> Umbrella),
>> turned into a second visit as well when the doctor ordered several
>> diagnostic blood tests along with the 'preventative blood work'.  She was
>> billed  for a partial payment on her preventative visit and billed the
>> whole shebang on the diagnostic 'visit'.... Doctor's office stood by the
>> way the insurance company looked at it and she had a $150. doctor  bill 
>> for
>> the ordering of one blood test.
>>
>> Makes me wonder if one could just find out from the doctor ahead of time
>> that this blood work would be 'needed', take care of it on ones own at a
>> local lab and then provide the doctor with the results... AND if that 
>> would
>> save the additional visit bill for diagnostic, what are we saying about
>> continuality of care in this whole mess?  As we muck about dissing
>> 'socialized medicine' we're creating something less stable and more
>> unwieldy, and still the principles are making $$$ up the wazoo, or maybe
>> it's just the insurance companies making any *real* money these days.
>>
>> Am I becoming paranoid here?  Will the government start deciding who/what
>> can get the kind of treatment a doctor would have heretofore have
>> recommended?  Were all these 'steps', some of which have had phase-in 
>> plans
>> from the start, intended to cause profit only?    And don't get me 
>> started
>> about the Medicaid info I read the other day (which I'm counting the 2
>> years + less than a month till I qualify)  which sounded like if I 
>> collect
>> SS at 66 I might have to pay $350. a month for Medicaid?? (and it didn't
>> sound like a supplement would defray *this* part of the cost).
>>
>> Lynn
>>
>> website: www.ichthysdesigns.com
>>
>> When I stand before God at the end of my life I would hope that I have 
>> not
>> a single bit of talent left and could say, "I used everything You gave 
>> me."
>> attributed to Erma Bombeck
>> "Either Freedom for all or stop talking about Freedom at all" from a talk
>> by Richard Rohr
>>
> 