Comments (14) Jump to Comments Form

1. 

   wittyvegan said, 2 months ago

   Sadly being ignorant is a pre-existing condition.

2. 

   spicecakes69 said, 2 months ago

   witty - you ARE witty!!! And your comment the the mark dead center!!! Thank you : )

3. 

   BOB HASTY said, 2 months ago

   Obviously too young for Medicare. This Death Panel must be from Blue Cross/Blue Shield!!!

   They have been denying expensive cancer treatments for years.

4. 

   HOWGOZIT said, 2 months ago

   No Hasty–from the Obama Administration.

5. 

   GNWachs said, 2 months ago

   And Hasty, do you honestly think suddenly ObamaCare will start paying for these $200,000 treatments?

6. 

   foxglove16 said, 2 months ago

   Howie and GNW, lets worry about the treatment for your paranoid delusions first, shall we?
   
   And GNW, many of my patients are getting expensive cancer treatment- from Medicare, which is what the public option would be modeled after. However I do have a patient who had the entire stomach removed for cancer because the insurance company delayed treatment for 3 months. If done right away, the patient would still be able to eat. Now the patient has a permanent line in for nutrition.

7. 

   HOWGOZIT said, 2 months ago

   And Obamacare will fix that somehow foxglove!

8. 

   Magnaut said, 2 months ago

   NO “CRASH” CARTS FOR CLUNKERS.

9. 

   GNWachs said, 2 months ago

   Foxglove

   My Medicare patients are not getting expensive biologics to treat their psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis. My patients are getting denials on many therapies and it is only going to get worse.

   BTW, what is your specialty?

10. 

    believecommonsense said, 2 months ago

    I’ve said before in my many years of working in healthcare field and writing about healthcare, I have never had a physician complain about Medicare interference with patient treatments. I’ve heard plenty about private insurer’s interference however.

    One of the all-time great stories about private insurers is a very large private HMO based in Sacramento that has members in many Western States and a contract for TriCare. An HMO executive overheard a physician complaining to another physician about the HMO’s interference over a dinner in local restaurant.

    Two days later, HMO told physician their were canceling his contract for voicing complaints. Attorneys get involved yada yada, HMO had to reinstate physician’s contract (free speech is a physician right too). However, within a week the HMO sent a letter to all the physician’s patients telling them he retired and assigning them to a new primary care doc.

    The insurer claimed the letter was a “clerical error.” yea, sure, clerical error, my @ss.

    Think the other docs didn’t get the message? Don’t mess with the big, bad insurer.

11. 

    GNWachs said, 2 months ago

    BCS

    True story. Mrs S, literally a 100 year old woman, came in with zoster. I made the diagnosis and wanted to treat with an injection. Medicare would not pay for an injection and pay for the office visit also. Mrs S would have had to go home and return the next day to get the injection and for medicare to pay. I asked if I could charge her and they said yes, if reasonable. I charged $5 and gave her the shot and sent her home saving a totally unnecessary 2nd visit.

12. 

    believecommonsense said, 2 months ago

    wait a minute, GNW, sounds more like it was your patient’s Medicare supplement requiring prior authorization ….

13. 

    GNWachs said, 2 months ago

    Long before Medicare Supplements.

    One example does not constitute data but one thing I can guarantee it will get worse.

14. 

    M Henri Day said, 2 months ago

    GNWachs, glad to hear that you gave her the shot - acyclovir, I presume ! But surely your tale is not an indictment of public medicine as such, but ather of poorly made or poorly interpreted rules - or do you intend to claim that such things do not occur under the benevolent regime of private HMOs ?…

    Henri