What's going on with health care? (insurance, how much, transfer)

[Wyoming Darrell]

Yesterday, my wife called Mayo to set up an appointment for me next month.
I have Medicare and also BC/BS insurance. BC/BS, of course, does not pay until Medicare does. She was told that they are not accepting any new Medicare patients, even though I would be transfering my care from Mayo in Rochester, Minn.
My Doctor, at an appointment today here in Wy. said that all the Dr's he knows, are going to only treat the minimum number of Medicare patients that they legally can. He says it will force the Government to "accept the status quo".
That means that since medicare won't be accepted, BC/BS won't pay either.
We pay BC/BS $823.00 a month and another hundred to Medicare, in addition to spending about $8,000.00 in combined deductions, and can't even get a Doctors appointment. And some people say our health system doesn't need repair.
Any words of cheer? We will be moving there in the next few weeks and need to hear some.

[Ritchie_az]

On average, Medicare pays 23% less to health care providers than private insurance for the same treatments. In other words, if doctors accept too many Medicare patients, they'll go broke and have to close up shop. Put more bluntly, Medicare puts medical practices out of business.
But that is government heath care for you.

I truly hope you can find the care you need.

[Home_Kid]

the US govt is destroying this country! if you have problems now just wait until the obama admin passes health reform.

sad to say, but the whitehouse is incompetent. they didnt even study the post affects of their dumb cash-for-clunkers program. you know how many auto mechanics now have no jobs, and how much business it took away from the auto service industry, and to boot these folks, along with the rest of us, have to pay for the program with our tax dollars!!

[Wyoming Darrell]

The question referred to the fact that I DO have insurance also. The problem is that the insurance company FORCED me to go on Medicare, I did not choose to. They now only pay A PERCENTAGE of what Medicare does not pay. Even with this drop in exposure, they raised the premium on my policy, even though it now basically only covers my wife,who hasn't been sick in 50 years, and my pills. Are you aware that the insurance companies made more profit than EXXON last year?
I have not read all the proposed options and NO ONE knows what might be the final proposal, but I can tell you this: It is not helping anything to paint mustaches on a picture, or to disrupt a meeting when someone is trying to explain what is proposed, and trying to get more ideas on how to make it better.
If they don't want the program, tell their congressman. If enough people do that, the congressman would vote against it. That's the AMERICAN way.
Either way I doubt that it will "ruin" the country or the government.

[altus2006]

Originally Posted by Wyoming Darrell

Yesterday, my wife called Mayo to set up an appointment for me next month.
I have Medicare and also BC/BS insurance. BC/BS, of course, does not pay until Medicare does. She was told that they are not accepting any new Medicare patients, even though I would be transfering my care from Mayo in Rochester, Minn.
My Doctor, at an appointment today here in Wy. said that all the Dr's he knows, are going to only treat the minimum number of Medicare patients that they legally can. He says it will force the Government to "accept the status quo".
That means that since medicare won't be accepted, BC/BS won't pay either.
We pay BC/BS $823.00 a month and another hundred to Medicare, in addition to spending about $8,000.00 in combined deductions, and can't even get a Doctors appointment. And some people say our health system doesn't need repair.
Any words of cheer? We will be moving there in the next few weeks and need to hear some.

I just called Mayo and they do take Medicare patients, but they do not accept the Medicare payment as payment in full. Since you have BC/BS as a secondary insurer, they would bill them for the amount Medicare did not pay. You would be responsible for the portion left after both of your insurers had paid their amount.

If you want to go to Mayo, it will cost more, but you definitely can use your Medicare there. My mother was in Mayo after spending months trying to get a diagnosis from her primary physician and his specialists.

After one day at Mayo she was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, which had gone undiagnosed by the other doctors she had been seeing for months. I think Mayo is worth the extra $$$.

With Medicare low balling physicians and hospitals, more people are having a difficult time finding doctors to treat them. It is a shame that sick people are turned down by physicians who cannot afford to treat Medicare patients and pay their overhead.

altus2006

[MotleyCrew]

I smell a troll.

[Ritchie_az]

To the spineless person who "rep-ed" me about my above post, saying that I'm an idiot, what part of my post was not factual? Ask any medical provider, they'll say the exact same thing I said, because what I said is true.
Just because you want socialized healthcare, and I said that our current socialized healthcare called Medicare places a significant financial burden on doctors, does not make me an idiot.
But the fact that you wouldn't put your name with your comment says a lot about you.

[Wyoming Darrell]

Ritchie, I'm pretty new to this, what is "rep-ed"? Also, how doe's a person post without posting their name? Sorry if these are dumb questions.
Darrell

[Wyoming Darrell]

Originally Posted by altus2006

I just called Mayo and they do take Medicare patients, but they do not accept the Medicare payment as payment in full. Since you have BC/BS as a secondary insurer, they would bill them for the amount Medicare did not pay. You would be responsible for the portion left after both of your insurers had paid their amount.

If you want to go to Mayo, it will cost more, but you definitely can use your Medicare there. My mother was in Mayo after spending months trying to get a diagnosis from her primary physician and his specialists.

After one day at Mayo she was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, which had gone undiagnosed by the other doctors she had been seeing for months. I think Mayo is worth the extra $$$.

With Medicare low balling physicians and hospitals, more people are having a difficult time finding doctors to treat them. It is a shame that sick people are turned down by physicians who cannot afford to treat Medicare patients and pay their overhead.

altus2006

Thank you for your post. When my wife called Mayo, whoever she talked to said they weren't taking any new Medicare patients, but that they would continue treating the ones they already had. I really hope that the information I was given was wrong. I will call again tomorrow. Mayo in Rochester saved my life twice, and I want nothing more than to go there. As far as paying extra over Medicare, that doesn't bother me.
Anyway, Thank you.
Darrell

[Steerpike]

My girlfriend makes a 6-figure income and has great insurance provided by her employer. However, she had cancer about 4 years ago - all taken care of now. She just lost her job; along with that, she loses her group health coverage once cobra runs out. With a pre-existing condition, there is no way any private insurance company will give her coverage - right at the time (age 55) that she needs it. The current system is fundamentally flawed in that people are denied coverage right at the time they actually need it.

You can paint all kinds of doom and gloom pictures, but - the simple fact is, countries such as France have better 'outcomes' than the US, for far less expenditure.

It is utter nonsense to suggest that a public insurance option will put private insurance companies out of business. In the UK, many people opt for private insurance, but the NHS is there as a safety-net.

People freak out at the thought of the 'Government' making decisions about their health, yet the Insurance Companies have a terrible track-record of making very, very bad decisions and we seem ok with that.

Has anyone noticed that private education (Stanford, Yale, Harvard, etc) still seems to be surviving despite the existence of a public education option (UC Berkeley, ASU, etc) ...

Bring on a public health option. Life as we know it will continue, I assure you ...