America’s Healthcare is not the worst in the world, but that’s only because the rest of the world is further along on the road towards socialism and everything centralized.
Since 2008 and the increasing centralization of everything, ours has gotten halfway to as stupid as the rest of the world except Canada which outright kills people and China, where they come to your house and kill you if they feel like it.
Thursday we had a doctor’s appointment and both of us got prescriptions which are urgently needed, not to say vital. We are leaving town tomorrow, on a trip we’ve nicknamed “The Grand Tour” that will keep us out of the house for two weeks.
…. and we’re trying to get the prescriptions for a week.
This is partly the doctor, partly the pharmacy. Somehow, when I asked the doctor to send my Adderal to the one store in town that had it on hand, not only didn’t it get sent, but I got transferred there. So I kept waiting for a call from my pharmacy to pick up the prescriptions…. and nothing. A call on Friday late resolved that.
And then the Pharmacy. So, the Pharmacy finds out from the insurance that our prescription isn’t covered, and they SUPPOSEDLY faxed the doctor. In a year and a half not a single one of those faxes has got through. IF they’re actually sending them, they have the wrong fax number. BUT never mind. (We have reason to think they never arrived, because the doctor was genuinely shocked at us still being without a prescription after a month.)
So we call the doctor. The doctor is trying to get things that will be approved. After… oh, an entire day of one of their people working on us non-stop, we get a call at 8 am today saying that we can have these alternatives. Note both alternatives are retarded. One is a different brand of something I tried before, which doesn’t work, and raises my cancer risk. BUT I have to try three of these, before they re-approve the med I was on for 5 years that worked, before our prescription insurance changed. Since we don’t want to spend $700 a month, we go “sure, we’ll try it. Get it out of the way.” THE OTHER ONE IS MAYBE $100 dollars cheaper than the prescribed, in a thousands of dollars med. WHICH IS URGENTLY NEEDED BY MY HUSBAND MORE THAN ME. I’m still waiting on a prescription from the replacement for Adderal, and that’s the doctor’s office, but they’re swamped, because, well, they’re dealing with the life saving stuff.
So, with that resolved and sent across town because our pharmacy can’t get it in before midday tomorrow, when we won’t be here, my husband calls on his prescription which was originally the same as mine that got refused. (Note that mine the substitution makes a little bit of sense, but none whatsoever for him. PLUS the pharmacy had told him it was “getting filled and would be ready Tuesday.” So he didn’t worry, and just called in case it would be easier at the other pharmacy where I was picking mine up. So he calls, and he gets told the pharmacy has “faxed your physician”. NOTE THAT THEY HADN’T TOLD HIM THERE WAS ANY PROBLEM WITH IT AT ALL. IN FACT, THE PHARMACY HAD TOLD HIM IT WAS “IN PROCESS” AND WOULD BE READY TODAY.
I can now pick up my modified prescription. So we tried to transfer Dan’s. We got the same “Your old prescription is being processed. We’ll call you when it’s done.” At this point I’ve been on hold with the doctor for over 40 minutes. I suspect they’re calling the pharmacy.
Look, this is all because of the bureaucrats in the middle. First it’s because medical insurance, which started to get around a fine bit of bureaucratic meddling “maximum wages” has morphed into an hydra of stupidity to the point that instead of being “insurance” it’s just a third party payer, which like all such distorts the market so you can’t afford to be without it. At the same time, of course, the government tried to “fix” healthcare by expanding insurance, because Obama is of course a foreign (In culture, I couldn’t care less where he was born) communist. And to him this makes perfect sense.
Like all government “solutions” this insanity is more wasteful than it would be without it.
Look, I don’t care how expensive my meds are. Tying up me, the doctor’s office, the pharmacy and doubtless someone at the insurance for almost three days has to cost more than that.
And BTW if I have to hear one more time to a COVID advert while waiting to talk to the pharmacy SOMEONE is going to die. Through a killing scream on my part.
It’s the same as the low-flush toilets you have to flush five times and therefore use double the water. It’s the same as the dishwashers that have to be put on pot scrubber and take three hours washing and use tons of water to actually clean.
All these central measures to save money not only end up costing more, but also end up costing lives.
We need to stop the insanity. Because this has gone too far and people are getting hurt.
According To Hoyt 
Maybe some people need to get hurt to stop this nonsense. Not the innocents. The ones causing it.
I got a rope; there’s a lamp post nearby.
:eyeballing that lineup:
… I’m debating if I should mail this to some DEA diversion folks, because that sounds really familiar for the “oops, what do you mean you didn’t get your prescription?” type stuff.
(I am the kind of person who fights to NOT get oxy every time she has a c-section, so I got to see some REALLY weird stuff.)
Funny thing is they have little problem giving you the Oxy and other opiates. My four back surgeries they gave them away almost like candy. Spent eight years in an opiod hell. Now I won’t touch the stuff unless I am almost dying. I won’t even take the mild stuff, me and pain are old friends by now. We get along just fine.
I have a bad reaction to it– I can tell my brain should be working better, but I can’t actually do it.
However, I have a lot of relatives who it is the only thing that works for them.
I’m solidly with the DEA head who informed congress that fighting the “opioid epidemic” of illegal, smuggled drugs by making it harder to treat chronic pain, was stupid. (I’d add evil.)
If other pain treatments work for you, good.
Humans are really not uniformly designed; my dad gets “on morphine” level loopy from tylenol. Even if he didn’t know it was in what he took.
I know we have folks here who could down a bottle of various pain killers and not notice, their body is just not built that way.
I get good results from, of all things, baby advil.
When I busted a collarbone falling into an airplane in Panama, the Air Force doctor who did the treatment handed me a 100-tablet bottle of Tylenol 3 (the ones with the Codeine). This was a God-send for the first couple of nights, but I REALLY did not like what it did to my brain so after that I got by on strategic positioning of the shoulder and basic Aspirin.
And I concur, torturing legitimate pain patients in order to fight the War on Drugs is just evil.
:e-hug:
I make it ABSOLUTELY clear to anybody prescribing me pain relief that they are risking their lives if it is codeine.
LITERALLY. It turns me into a serious paranoid. What I would do while under the influence would not be a good thing at all.
I just get nauseated and weird.
And I am on the opposite end of that bell curve. Codeine might as well not exist. Evidently I metabolize it so slowly, it pretty much doesn’t exist for me.
I do more-or-less OK on the Vicoden or Norco tabs, but don’t like them at all. I researched it and found that an extra-strength Tylenol plus 250mg of Ibuprofen, taken together every 6 hours does almost the same for pain relief. It’s claimed as safe, and it works for me. YMMV.
Had cornea work done, and took one of the Vicoden tabs post-op for each eye, then went to the combination. Needed a few Norcos after bunion surgery, and a few days of them when my knee was rebuilt, but switched to the combination as soon as I could.
I have to take ibuprofen morning and night for arthritis anyway, so I’m careful about adding too much.
That is what I was told to take after my last root canal. Combination works, and puts me to sleep. The only time I’ve had the known (codeine, etc.) “hard” prescriptions before were after a root canal. The only other (I guess in that group, given how difficult it was to get a refill) were the muscle relaxers (do not remember name, been 15+ years now since last prescription, but not one I’d recognize as being in the “hard” good stuff group) when I was having trouble with back spasms. My comment on the push back was “Really? It took 6 months and 3 separate incidents to run out of a week supply. Do you really think I am abusing them? Seriously?” Second prescription I took a year to use up. Used to keep them on hand for scout outings so back wouldn’t seize up at night sleeping on ground (there are not enough ground pads). These, half dose, just put me to sleep, none of the other dazed or lack of thought function. Third or fourth, last prescription, got turned into “don’t dump old outdated prescriptions” after learned that the actual fix to the problem was a chiropractor.
To convey the feeling — imagine looking at a light switch.
And knowing you know how it works.
And not being able to access that or figure it out.
THAT is just slightly above how bad I was on Oxi. It’s not a normal reaction, but it is why pain enough to require it is very, very bad.
(Other variants were actually less bad, weirdly, but that was also when literally BEING gutted, not recovery from the same. Being able to go “hm. This should upset me” when your gut is opened is weird but useful.)
I used to think it would be interesting to watch my own surgery. After seeing someone else’s abdomen surgery wound during bandage changing, not so much.
I don’t consider myself squeamish, but I had to step away and collect myself. I suppose people get used to it, but as a first-timer, all I could think was “steak looks like that; I’m really not hungry, now, and maybe never again.”
That’s probably part of why they go “we need this screen.”
Just, every time (for those who don’t know, I have h ad multiple –seven, now– C-sections. And counter the late 80s study in the middle east, after about two or three EMERGENCY C-sections, it’s reasonably safe. A lot of the data is that “emergency situations are dangerous.”) I end up there going “Ok, so this is going on… now this is happening….a nd now this” and it’s worse with each birth, as far as “K, this should hurt, IT DOESN’T.”
You can and do work yourself into a frenzy, and you have better things to do, other-moms. It’s OK.
I watched my own cataract surgery and, another time, two stints installed next to my heart and found both rather interesting.
I was completely awake for both retina procedures, but was temporarily blinded for the second eye. The first, I could see the shadow of the little pliers in my eye when he was peeling the membrane off the retina. Thought it was pretty cool–that might have had something to do with the Dammitol they gave me preop. Was annoyed I was blind for the second (different doc, and it came out better after some post-op drama/trauma) but since I knew what to expect, no problem.
Was out cold for the cataracts. Main excitement was after the second, when I was told I had AFIB and the doc had to explain what it was. Didn’t show for the first time, was lucky.
Cataract they want you awake especially if the lens is correcting astigmatism in addition to the cataract. The wierdest part was they have to mark the eye in the astigmatism case so they can line the lens up correctly about 7.5 on the weird-stuff-o-meter. Weirdest thing I ever did is when they needed to do an abdominal needle biopsy during my run in with large B cell lymphoma. They need you awake for this as they need to position you in the cat scanner. You get some calming drug and a local. Now I HATE needles, I’ve learned to cope with them. But whatever that med was They approached me with what had to be a foot long needle. All I thought was “Oh wow that’s a big needle” and kind of wanted to giggle. Good stuff whatever that was…
When they were trying to diagnose the cause of the back spasms I went into a full body scanner. I thought I was okay with tight spaces. I am. To a point. I know it took longer than expected (because telling me to lie perfectly still with a back quivering in spasm is not possible, if I could have controlled it, I wouldn’t have been there), but still. I will not undergo such again unless I have help. Lots and lots of help. Note, then they couldn’t diagnose the problem!
I had generic cataract lenses. The left cornea has some scarring that gives me uncorrectable astigmatism without a truly complex lens or cornea work. (I’m told that the scars could be removed. I don’t want to go for a transplant, but I’m considering talking to the cornea people.)
Tight spaces don’t bother me unless it’s a really tight crawlspace and I start recalling the Loma Prieta earthquake. Memories of that are still vivid. Had a CAT scan for an ear issue, but the bones and sclerosis were too small for 1990s technology to image well. No idea if it could be done now. The other time was for a blown-out knee. MRI would have worked better, but mid-Covidiocy, no MRI staff was available on a weekend. CT was sufficient, however.
Wounds are different than initially doing surgery.
I have the same reaction to a common antibiotic. I stood in front of the microwave, and I couldn’t remember how to set it to heat a heating pad. My practitioner decided the cure was worse than the disease and got me off it.
Reminds me of the time that I was so tired that I stood in front of the bathroom door for several seconds, asking myself, “Should I walk through before or after I open it?”
I made the right decision. But it was a conscious decision.
I found out the hard way that I halluciate after 48 hours without sleep.
Sometime after the second all-nighter, I started seeing spiders everywhere.
Never did that again.
Heh.
Field exercise, at about 60+ no sleep hours or so, I was watching trees sneak around in the dark downrange of my fighting position.
I mean like “upper branches reach down to uproot self, then tiptoe on rootlets to next stop.”
What was wild was, as I described it, my buddy began to see them also.
Maybe they were Ninja Trees?
On my bad boat ride, when the Coast Guard finally showed up to put us in tow I’d been awake for over a day and a half. Playboy’s Gahan Wilson-esque faces were peeking at me from behind the clouds overhead. Not a good thing for the fella at the tiller of a 40-foot sailboat to be hallucinating like that, but the skipper and the other crew guy were in worse shape.
Yes, THAT!!!
You are the first person to GET it.
Pain prescription drugs make me dizzy. When I am dizzy I sleep. Even OTC generally put me to sleep. I do not do well on drugs.
Hubby is fine with them. He also has a pain threshold that is way, way, higher than mine. His second hip surgery we didn’t even fill whatever pain medication was prescribed after he got discharged from the hospital. Even the first hip replaced he had the pain medication but only because the not treated hip hurt, bad. Even then he stopped those when the answer to “when could he drive” was “48 hours after you aren’t taking the good stuff”. The two to six weeks I was suppose to be off work was to take him to his appointments. I was off a week the first time, and only a few days the second time (when he was in the hospital). He didn’t drive home from the hospital because I said no and had the hospital staff backing me up. Otherwise, he would have. Now hip and knee replacements are an outpatient process at the doctor’s clinic, unless there is other medical reasons to use the hospital facilities instead.
A single ibuprofen knocks me out for the night. I don’t take acetaminophen because it doesn’t work. I can still feel the pain, I know it’s there, I just feel dull and don’t want to do anything.
I did use some Hydrocodone for a broken arm – VERY painful, and the only thing that worked to give some pain relief. However, after the first 2 weeks, I started cutting down on the dose, and – as of yesterday, was using only non-opoid pain relief.
Now, the down side is, I’m not sleeping or resting very well at all. But, it’s a small price to pay for not continuing a highly addictive drug.
I’m mostly uncomfortable. Can’t find a position that doesn’t cause discomfort, and have ongoing pain with a small p. I’m using hot showers, heating pads, and other means to handle it.
If I might suggest – showing up in person, and hanging around until the problem is resolved a lot more effective than calling on a phone. The more they have to deal in person with you, the more they are motivated to deal with it and get you on your way.
With health plans, ALWAYS put it in writing. Make an official request through their website. Use their online forms. They HAVE to respond, with a certain timeframe, or they get dinged by the federal government. That affects their plan rating, and they take that very seriously.
I was prescribed Hydrocodone for a dental procedure. I took it without food (hint: don’t do that). Couldn’t keep anything down for three days, wound up in the hospital for dehydration. (hint: don’t do that). The next time I was prescribed it, I made sure to take it with food and only when the pain became intolerable (only a couple of days). I didn’t need addiction on top of my other issues.
100%. If I must “talk” real time, I use the website chat. Then I get the chat log. I do that for a lot of stuff not just insurance issues. Of coarse some of it is because they think they are chatting with the other half. Just easier than taking hubby to the phone and him saying “talk to my wife” when he is the primary on whatever account. (We’ve been married for almost 45 years. The big ones, like the house, we’ve been in for 34 1/2 years, are the worst. We have no clue who is primary on most accounts, unless they are very, very, recent. It happens even if I’m co-listed on the account. I do know once I’ve ran into that road block because I’ve started writing them down, until then, no clue. Yes, I know why they do this. It is a PIA.)
There are a lot of people that have difficulties with Kaiser (for good reasons), but one thing I have always appreciated about them is that they are a one-stop shop. The insurance is integrated with the doctors and the pharmacy, so once it’s in the system, it’s in the freaking system.
Yes, I’m having trouble filling my kid’s Adderall. But the prescription makes it to the pharmacy in nice clear digital format. Things that aren’t controlled substances, like my husband’s asthma meds, get MAILED and no pharmacy visit is required.
And that’s more important when you have a hospital visit, because it’s far more clear what they’re doing, who is doing it, and there’s no sub-contractors trying to add on to your bill. All of my kids’ births “cost” the same, even though they didn’t have the same things going on.
I can’t even fathom trying to deal with the Byzantine method that many providers have. It makes NO sense.
The Byzantine method isn’t there for the payer it is done by the provider to collect your money and send as little as possible back out. Many “providers” were all in for 0bamacare because while it made more things “Coverable” it allowed more money intake, and more red-tape to hide behind . . . regulations, don’tchaknow
I can’t even fathom trying to deal with the Byzantine method that many providers have. It makes NO sense.
A lot of fraud goes in there.
One of the services that BC/BS gives me is that I get a bill for “oh, oops, we found a new doctor sort who was kind of sort of involved who JUST HAPPENS to have a bill for exactly our writeoff!” they call up and say “oh, really?”
It’s a patch on a mess that Trump made a start on fixing, and we may eventually dig down it…eventually.
IT’s not helped by insurance companies having a nasty habit of declining things randomly because, oh, you got a (to confirm a) pregnancy test during your annual visit and they can’t figure out you didn’t do two visits for it, so one’s a fraud…..
At least you don’t have to prove your leg didn’t spontaneously grow back for disability payments like we do up here…
Ugh, a friend has adult onset scoliosis.
In the military medical system.
There’s been TWO blessed new primary care guys who didn’t require a new x-ray, in case the LONG SERIES on record were made up.
Some required several….
For all of its sins, I’ve done well with Kaiser in terms of my care (still need to get a better doctor, my current one wants me to go on an all-vegan diet to lose weight), as long as you’re proactive about it.
I had a so-so PCP at Kaiser, and got fed up enough that I pulled up the list of all the PCPs in my location, went on the web, and picked the one with the best reviews. That has been working well.
I had a so-so PCP at Kaiser, and got fed up enough that I pulled up the list of all the PCPs in my location, went on the web, and picked the one with the best reviews. That has been working well.
Integration is not necessarily a good thing.
Where I am, “the system” demands that anything that CAN be referred to a specialist, MUST be referred to a specialist. Because it brings more money into “the system”. Since the primary care providers get paid by “the system” (and are aggressively overbooked by “the system”), they do.
As a result, wait times to see a specialist rival wait times in Canada or Britain. The patients who actually need the elevated level of care get actively screwed over. “The system” doesn’t care. People who are actually sick take more time to treat. It’s much more profitable to see four patients who don’t need to be treated, than one patient who does.
(I have a wife who is chronically ill, and a kid who is medically fragile. I’ve gotten to see the seedy underbelly of the medical profession in a few different parts of the country. I have stories.)
The UK system, once you get on the proper path and have seen your specialist or whatever, seems to work reasonably well. Prescriptions get automatically refilled. Follow up visits get scheduled (though $deity help you if you have to reschedule the same consultation more than once because that seems to drop you off the path) and so on. Now getting onto the proper path can be a slow process (often it is far far too slow) but once on you are generally fine.
I was contemplating what it would take to create an alternative to Kaiser for me. The amount of stress to discover the various specialists, places to get jabbed. Likely impossible. All the docs who don’t take medicare.
Trust is essential. I have had the same PCdoc for 20 years.
When I get a test or exam, it is online for me to see. It helps to be proactive. Also, you must know that Kaiser in Santa Clara (Ca) does not have enough parking, so get an appointment early or late, not at 1130. And, if you make less than $70k, apply for an MFA, no copay. The secrets of the museum.
Kaiser Santa Clara is a gem among NorCal Kaisers. Had no idea how wonderful it was until we moved…
Had Kaiser Walnut Creek when we were all kids, and it was wonderful. Put in 1100+ hours as a candy striper, but family left in 1981, and don’t know how much it changed since…
Arm mysteriously started hurting a few weeks ago. Went in, saw my PCP, he scheduled MRI in 2 weeks. Went in late this Monday afternoon. Scanned, results in my Kaiser health info that eve, (torn tendon).
Called facility appointment scheduling Tuesday, scheduled 8:10 Wed call with my doctor. He signed for me to be seen by the Ortho dept, need Xray. Got call from Ortho just as I was leaving for Xray, scheduled to see shoulder specialist tomorrow at 8:30 AM. That is about as efficient as any large medical facility can be. Told my doc I was glad we weren’t in Canada. Thanks Santa Clara Kaiser.
In Canuckistan, you might get an MRI around November. Unless some bureaucrat decides you don’t ‘need’ an MRI, no matter what your doctor says.
Now imagine that sort of arrogant incompetence extended to every aspect of your life, with every decision made for you by government functionaries whose only qualification is that they know how to manipulate the bureaucracy.
Oh, wait, we don’t have to imagine it — we’re living it.
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The government subsidizes failure and punishes success.
California housing used to be what you know, now it is who you know. Projects take years not months. I can’t prove corruption, but it sure looks like that. If you solve the problem you no longer have it as a excuse for graft.
It is also the difference between an employee and a professional. A professional has an allegiance to something greater than the one who pays him. An employee, only to an employer. So you have fewer College teachers as permanent, instead just hired to teach a course. No power, no longer professional. Doctors now hired as employees, not as professionals.
The greatest change in the past 50 years is the change from professional to employee. Teachers, Nurses, Doctors, are less professional than they were 50 years ago. This is what has always made us Christians more dangerous, we answer to an higher authority.
Yeah, when I went looking for a doctor on the provider site for the new insurance associated with my new job, I had to wade through I don’t know how many bad entries (basically, the doctor in question probably works at the location listed, but only a couple of hours every week, and it’s a specialty place that focuses on something like gastro-intestinal issues instead of general stuff; but it has an entry in the “family practice” section) before I finally found one that looked like it might work and that might accept patients. The site was a joke. And I still haven’t actually confirmed that the doctor I decided on will actually work (for reasons on my end), so for all I know I might need to spend another couple of hours sorting through the near-useless directory if it turns out that practice isn’t accepting new patients.
I usually have two windows open when I’m looking for a doctor– one is the online phone book equivalent, the other is the “find a local doctor” search on my insurance page. I bounce between them because if you click through, it takes FOREVER to get teh list back…..
I have to have a procedure done. Out-patient, but at $HOSPITAL instead of $CLINIC.
Hospital: What’s your insurance?
Me: Cash [I have a reimbursement policy through a mutual assurance pool]
Hospital: {Enormous relief in voice} Oh! In that case, instead of $X, it will be $X- 75%.
It’s still outrageous, but 75% discount for cash!?! That tells me how much administration and dealing with insurance companies costs in time and headaches.
I dread turning 65 and being forced onto MediCare. (Federal law – you hit 65 and even if you don’t want to go on MediCare, unless you are Amish, certain types of Mennonite, or one of a very few other exceptions, you have to go on it.)
Back in the 90’s I knew a self employed guy paying for birth of first kid. Even back then, paying direct was often -65-70%. He also got around the “Water Efficient” toilet by buying it for his business where he was required to buy a “Sanitary” version, then installing the old working one in his house.
Before I was insured, the cash-rate for procedures was 25% off list at the hosital. They also put a lot of overhead in some of these. I used to get a clotting test done at a super-low-cost (Medicaid-friendly) clinic, and the non-Medicaid charge was $12.50. The same test at the complex’s dialysis clinic (their choice, not mine) was $100.00. Did that once. Blood draws were cheaper; with discount $60.
Now that the big medical complex’s family practice clinic can do the stick, it’s nominally $25, all covered by insurance.
It’s still outrageous, but 75% discount for cash!?! That tells me how much administration and dealing with insurance companies costs in time and headaches.
That’s probably more federal.
The “mandatory write-off” amount for federal stuff is based off of the raw price.
I was uninsured before I turned 65 (never applied for O’care, though nominal income would have gotten me in the low rate tier). Got Medicare, then went to BC/BS (known as Regence around here) for Medigap, then signed up for a lot of procedures that were in the queue or got discovered while the first procedures were getting done. Out of pocket payment had to go for an eye check as part of the cornea diagnostics (the followup doc knew how to hide the necessary exams under different codes). For two retina procedures, two cornea buff&polish and “stare at the laser while I poke holes in the membrane behind the (cataract) lens”, I had to pay mileage and hotel fees. And the $54 for the first eye exam at the cornea doc. Fair enough.
Did have a bit of a SNAFU with a colonoscopy. It was supposed to be routine, but the doc found a suspicious bit and took a sample for diagnosis (benign, as per expectations), and MC’s algorithm freaked out that the code changed from routine to diagnostic. Took several months to straighten out, though it cost me maybe 2 hours of phone time. The hospital billing people lost some hair over it–they might have revised coding.
TL;DR: Get a good medigap policy. We’re paying about $4K a year on it, and for me, it’s paid off really well. $SPOUSE doesn’t believe in getting sick or injured, so she hasn’t needed it yet.
We have medi-gap Regency too. But then we’ve been on Regency since ’79 through the union employer insurance through hubby’s work.
The only time we’ve had trouble with insurance was my sleep apnea mandibular device which is made by orthodontists or dentists under appropriate medical code. But orthodontists and dentists don’t do medical procedures and thus the charges are
deep dark holedisallowed (doesn’t get through the clearing process between clinic and insurance, but nothing comes back to tell the clinic software that it essentially had been denied). I had to submit the claim directly. First time was a PIA because the clinic couldn’t figure out what was wrong, even calling. They, nor I, had a clue there was an *intermediary between them and the insurance validating the claims. Second time, easy, I knew what had to be done. Only question on how would the take having the claim occur twice in 18 months (first type kept breaking).Finding out there was a separate entity as intermediary was fun too. Insurance kept insisting it hadn’t gotten a claim submitted. But I had the copy of the (multiple) confirmations of submission. Very patiently I had to walk the insurance people through how to tell me exactly what steps were performed. Sounds easy to say “do that”. It wasn’t.
Red – your results may vary, but Medi-Care been very very good to me. And a KP Senior Advantage. Free drugs. A couple of ridiculously expensive ($100K +) procedures ditto. Lots of MRI’s and CT scans for $25 apiece. Blood draws and testing. Results sent to in-box.
Even though a rabid small govt person, when it comes to gravy like this, I’ll take my place at the trough. I’d be dead or destitute (same thing) without M-C.
Hey, I paid for Medicare for 45 years. I’m damn well going to get some benefit out of all that money. Same for Socialist Stupidity.
Bah. Medicare/Medicaid is in an even bigger hole than Socialist Security, paying out 2-3x as much per average recipient as it takes in. This stuff is going to break, and I’m young enough that I’ll probably get to see it.
They both need to break. The political will to fix them is nonexistent. The two biggest government boondoggles in history have to go down in flames so big and hot nobody can deny how stupid they were. They have to burn until FDR and LBJ are universally condemned as a pair of prize idiots.
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The one thing we need more of from the government is LESS!!
It’s the lack of choice that galls. If you can afford something else – too bad. I’m glad it has worked so well for you. That’s very good to hear.
A growing number of physicians here refuse to take Medi-Care, so if you have something new develop, it may be a long wait (by US terms) to find a specialist. The reimbursement from the Feds is less than the cost of office space et al, so the docs can’t afford to accept more than X% Medi-Care patients if they want to cover their bills. The other difficulty for physicians is that if they accept Medi-Care, they can’t offer cash services to Medi-Care eligible patients. If you want to pay cash, you can’t at a Medi-Care doc. The idea was to prevent favoritism and corruption. As applied? Well … It’s a bureaucracy. ‘Nuff said.
Note: Other places may be different than what’s true in my region.
Flyover County is medium poor since the lumber mills got clobbered by Spotted Owl Fever. It’s become a retirement mecca, getting expats from California, Washington, and the bluer portions of Oregon. So, for a doc, no medicare, no business. OTOH, my dentist runs a practice that’s friendly to non-insured people. She got that business model from her father, the dental surgeon, and when he passed away, the new DMD fit right in.
Winter (we just went from Still-Winter to Fire for the local four seasons) tends to cause some coastal expats to go back. I did find it a bit disconcerting to look at the porch thermometer to see 22 degrees this morning. That’s Fahrenheit, not Centigrade. Welcome to Summer, and Up Yours, Climate freaks!
I’ve had the furnace heat off, but the fans running for weeks. We’ve been running the floor AC’s off and on since just before we left. But not for the last week. Finally broke down yesterday and turned the furnace on. It was Cold (not 22 F cold, but cold).
Reports from Banff/Jasper/Glacier/Yellowstone are roads closed, for snow. Not unusual in June. But caught the climate change people by surprise given their screaming about climate change causing the wildfires in the northern portions of the Canadian provinces. “No, stupid climate change people, it is forestry practices (lack of) and arsonists.”
I elected not to get the prescription Part D plan. Not sure what it’s like now, but the last time I looked, if I wanted to go for it now, I’d have to pay back rates to when I was first eligible. My meds are partially paid through the One-Size-Fits-All(most?) Oregon plan, so my not terribly expensive meds are costing me about 15-20 a month. OTOH, it gets weird for the expensive/exotic stuff.
Post-op eye drops are covered strangely. When prescribed and delivered at the hospital that did the day surgery, the meds were paid for. Anything prescribed later (a glaucoma med to counteract my eye’s reaction to steroids. Sigh) was for cash, and that stuff was $300 for a month’s worth. Similar issues for a non-steroid alternative for a different procedure.
Most of my customers who select Medicare Advantage really like it. Yes, there are copays, but the overall cost is comparable, and the wrap-around care works very well. For example, this year, I:
– had ongoing asthma issues, after a prolonged exposure to poor air quality set it off. My doctors were prompt in seeing me, referring me to an asthma/allergy specialist who is marvelous, and rushed through refills of my nebulizer solution when I was unexpectedly running low.
– broke my arm out of town. They paid all bills, switched to local care when I traveled home, and greased the path of getting me in to see an ortho specialist quickly. The doctor took all the time needed to answer my questions, and worked with me to make sure that I wasn’t in pain. I’m now set up with PT, which I was able to access within a week of my last visit.
And, I had all that care at ONE price for the entire episode. That’s the way that the plan handles broken bones.
We were very careful when we picked our medicare advantage plan, asking the appropriate questions. We do have to be careful when we travel because guaranty we are out of the plan circle. But as long as we use urgent care or emergency services, the plan will pay. Might have to pay upfront and submit. But it will pay. Now if one of us is hospitalized through emergency services, then we’ve got some hoops to hop through. High probability, currently anyway, that would be because of auto accident, which means the vehicle insurance gets involved (who pays? Don’t care. As long as it is paid.)
Sarah, I’m going to assume you’ve already tried GoodRX and SingleCare to reduced prescription costs.
I don’t know what to say about the SNAFUs.
My daughter works as a pharmacy technician for a major pharmacy. She has stories. Boy, does she have stories. Maybe it’s a difference between states, but I think most patients who have a problem with their prescriptions are asked to call their doctors directly, here. I don’t know if they fax doctors; I’ll have to ask.
I get so tired of British people crowing about how they have the Bestest Health Care in the World Evar, and why are American people so stupid that they don’t get the same system. And no, there are never any problems with their system. It works perfectly all the time.
We have a top-notch health care plan at the moment. Both my husband and daughter have needed a C-Pap machine. It takes serious work to convince the C-Pap company, no, our insurance doesn’t require we talk to X doctors and jump through Y hoops before our insurance will pay for it.
The unexplained love of the British for the NHS is mindboggling to me. It’s a barely adequate system that rations healthcare by queueing and despite not having to worry so much about paying and reimbursements etc. still has a vast bureaucracy that seems to do very little of use.
Though as noted above once you are on the path things do work pretty well
Number two son was born in an NHS hospital. At least where we lived, it’s not true everywhere, they did the wellness side very well. That said, my aunt has permanent loss of function in her leg because she broke it after 5:00 on a Friday and the orthopedic specialist didn’t come in to set it until Monday morning. if you live oop North and you have cancer, you’ll almost certainly die before you get any sort of treatment and didn’t get me started on dentistry.
Nope. the US has the best medical system on earth and even if the best efforts of the bureaucracy to break it succeed, the rest of the world will still be much, much worse.
Technically we have dental insurance through the medi-gap. It requires us to use the “correct” dental clinic. Nope. Will stick with tried and true. Have been with Sr dentist since he bought the clinic from the retiring dentist. Now that Jr (son) has joined the firm as a dentist will stay even as dad retires.
It came in just as antibiotics became widely available. The pre/post for that time period in terms of Healthcare outcomes is incredible, and most people don’t understand it had nothing to do with NHS and everything to do with tech.
Penicillin.
They switched to the NHS just as mass-produced penicillin came into use, and have been riding on the obvious improvement ever since.
The big medical complex in the county added a satellite pharmacy when the regional club store had to shut it’s pharmacy (courtesy Covidiocy and the supply issues). The upside is that it’s now a simple computer order for a doc with the complex to transmit a prescription, and if they have to call for a fresh approval, it’s fast.
It’s one of the few times I’ve seen where the IT work has reduced problems. Yippie!
“…. no, our insurance doesn’t require we talk to X doctors and jump through Y hoops before our insurance will pay for it.”
It’s long since become legendary in the Medical Industrial Complex, but what a few of us have come to call “UNLOC” – Unnecessary Layers of Complication – has spread exponentially. Recently a friend attempted to order a pizza and discovered that, locally, two of the three national chains now use a central processing facility for internet and voice orders (the third may also, but he provided no data on them). When you attempt an order rather than connecting directly to the pizza place 2 miles away, it goes, apparently, overseas to a central processing and call center where connecting to someone with ESL is a dim hope; familiarity, much less mastery, of English seems to be quite a bit farther down the chain (ETL? EFL?). The web ordering option is a great deal more desirable, but when the satellite, or whatever, goes on the blink and Spoken Words become important, it’s time to rummage through the freezer and fire up the microwave instead.
I’ve been wondering if the whole UNLOC business hasn’t somehow become a profit-making division of whatever businesses have come to employ it. It certainly seems popular.
OMG! They’d never get ours correct. Even in person I have to be very patient until I properly train a new behind the counter person. OTOH we only use one chain (Papa Murphys) rarely. The other two we go to are both family owned, only have one location each, and working on training up their 4th generations.
Taco Bell works that way at the drive-through. The person you’re talking to is a phonedroid somewhere else.
C4C
Simple blood pressure medication like lisinopril, they’ll only give me a 90-day supply, and trying to get a refill while out of town, even via VA or Tricare is usually a 3-day nightmare.
When the club store had a pharmacy, their program offered a 100 day supply. I kept getting prescriptions for 90 days “because that’s the standard”. Several years ago, even the option of 100 days went away.
I found that I can refill a prescription a week in advance (possibly 10 days with the current setup, but haven’t tried too hard), and when the refills run out, I will go to the clinic before that week. As a result, I can slowly build up a stash, roughly 4 weeks worth a year. I’ve been on some of these meds for over a decade. I have a comfortable backup.
I’ve been on the current statin for a shorter time, so not so much backup. The last authorization, the doc gave me a 90 day Rx without refills, so I figure my periodic checkup will entail a blood test for my cholesterol levels. (I need to research statins; since I keep catching rumblings that they’re not as good as the initial claims were.)
Have heard that it is occasionally doable to have the doc do a one-time prescription order for the out of town issues. I’m ignorant of the mil-med side, so mileage will vary. (I haven’t done this myself.)
I don’t LIKE taking meds, but truth be told, high blood pressure can do a number on your kidneys and Tina Turner is a fair example of that. Not that she might have abused her body in other ways over the years with additional wear and tear. the whole show business culture can be deadly.
Regarding travel. Didn’t happen this trip (which would have been a PIA because this time there was more than “1 or 2 doses” left). When we crossed over the Canadian border back into the US in 2019 we were asked if we had any prescriptions with us, and did we have the original prescription container. Yes, and No because hubby puts his in dispensers for the weeks gone (I don’t have any pill medication I take). When the agent said he’d have to confiscate the pills, hubby’s response was “Fine. There are only one or two left.” You could see the agent was surprised. Obviously we were not going into Canada to purchase prescription at less expensive cost (besides if we were we’d have the original prescription bottle, stupid we aren’t). This trip we were asked “Why were we in Canada.” Vacation, 3 national parks. “Where we headed.” Rest of Vacation, two national parks, then home. “Do you have any firearms with you.” Blink. “No.” (Resisted the quip “Illegal to take firearms into Canada.”) “Welcome home.” Thank you, and south-east we went.
Oh. And nothing, zip, zero, about the barking dog I was holding in my lap. We had, but was not asked for, her rabies certificate (required) and a health certificate (not “required” but it can be asked for and required if the agent does not think the animal “looks healthy”). I won’t get a health certificate to take her to Canada again, not at $300 current cost, and it won’t be less the next time, when/if we go.
The last time we got a refill on Kat’s heartworm medication, the vet’s office said one of their techs had to approve it. I know that there has been a clampdown on vet medications, courtesy the FDA, and I suspect it because people were buying such “dangerous” drugs as ivermectin with the intent of using it themselves.
We’re outside of flea habitat, but heartworm carriers have been creeping north in the years since we moved here. In the Aughts, it was considered a California issue (and we had to go there to see relatives), but now it’s considered a good idea in general.
$SPOUSE was born in B.C. and has some relatives there, but she’s given a hard nope to Canada travel. I’ve seen enough; used to live near the border as a little, and was on Vancouver Island in the late 70s. Was a pain reentering the US even then. (He lived in San Diego, I in San Jose. Known each other since we were 8. Is that a problem, Sir? Glad I elected not to smuggle Cuban cigars…)
Heartworm meds. Yes, not considered a hard threat locally but the veterinarians note it has been diagnosed in local dogs. So far those that have spent any time where it is epidemic. Until recently, there had to be a test every 2 years, from age two on, to verify the dog does not have heartworms to get the prescription regularly. I guess now, I can declare she has continuously religiously been on the medication. She has (I despise fleas and ticks). As for the side effects turns out the producer requires the medication to be purchased from the veterinarian or the source is “suspect”. WTF? Costco? Only done it once. Savings. But not that much. Next purchase will go back through the vet clinic. Then I’ll decide whether to complain about the seizures or not, which she has had infrequently for years (before went off topical version). She doesn’t have them enough to have her under treatment for them. But the alternative topical doesn’t deal with all the local tick varieties and she is allergic to flea/tick collars.
I’m trying to get onto Mounjaro presently. First round of inquiries are met with the pharmacist looking shocked: “You don’t have drug coverage?” Didn’t want to explain that the coverage cost more than I spend on drugs AND there’s the co-pay. Might’s well just pay cash. BUt the bloody stuff is unaffordable without SOME assistance, but the make offers help to those who can’t afford it. But the say you MUST have primary coverage in order to get the discount. (IOW they want to be able to soak your insurance carrier, even if they’re giving YOU a break on the price. Wonder how THAT gets clawed back and who’s gonna lost because of it.)
There’s a book out by a very bright and motivated physician: (Medical Politics by Stephen Soloway) which blames ALL of the problems with American health care on gratuitous government meddling. (Show of hands: who’s surprised?) It’s pricey, but I may check it out and you may want to.
We go through Costco. Not now because we are on medicare and medi-gap but before then the retiree insurance prescription coverage was lousy. We just signed paper that we didn’t have prescription coverage. Then a 90 day cash supply was less than paying the copay for a month supply, twice. Still do, only it is for the animals. Animal medication we aren’t saving much on.
Granted the change between paying cash and paying nothing under current medi-gap was a whole $12.99 (for me) and $60 (hubby) for the 3 month supply. Except for my rosea medication which medi-gap won’t pay for.
There are two additional things going on here that Sarah didn’t mention.
First, doctor’s office staff has been cut to nothing in the last ten years. There used to be a lady to answer the phone, and a nurse, and usually a nurse’s aid, sometimes a physician assistant. Not anymore. Now there is a telephone answering machine, some minimum wage person running around doing all the office crap, and the doctor.
Second, in the USA anyway, pharmacies used to have staff to handle all the -amazing- bureaucracy and interface with doctors/hospitals/insurance companies… and now they don’t.
The bureaucratic snarl of pernicious bullshit is all still there, but now the business doesn’t have sufficient profit margin to support it so there is no one to answer the phone and straighten things out.
No one answers the phone at the insurance company either, because it is not in their business interest to have covered transactions go smoothly.
And that’s why you get paper chase/Catch 22 action on every single prescription more complex than an aspirin.
Q: How long has 0bamacare been in effect?
A: Take a guess.
“Uh, about 10 years?”
There, that wasn’t so hard, was it?
It started in the 90s. Bush didn’t help anything. OboombaCare finished it off. Its dead, Jim.
But you have seen -nothing- yet, I promise you. The most overcrowded, busted-ass county hospital or VA in East Podunk Alabama is -better- than most Canadian hospitals now. You have to go to NYC, Chicago, etc.. to find anything worse than Canada.
What is sad is Veterinarian care costs. While there is pet care insurance few pet owners have it. I know costs have gone up. But dang. Even simple stuff. Dog Health Certificate: 2019 – $100, 2023 – $294. I do get $100 for every paw stamp. I get a paw stamp for every $100 spent. Unlike most point reward system the < $100 points just disappear, do not accumulate to $100. Would rather go back to the old system where if I bring in multiple animals for vaccination, I pay full price for the first 3 vaccines, and half for the remainder. Plus every vaccine did not require an exam. Long term? I don’t know what to do (okay, I do know, I’ll pay it).
(I do beat the system somewhat. We have multiple cats on the same flea medication, which requires an annual exam. I just order the flea med on whichever has been in the veterinarian clinic < year. The staff knows what I am doing. They cheerfully let me get away with it. Can’t do this for the dog’s flea medication but then she does get some annual shots. Cat’s only get shots every 3 years.)
I work in Healthcare I’m a support role. The wait times… a good chunk of the 3rd world does better.
My wife works for a hospital trying to get insurance companies to pay according to their contracts with the hospital. Quite frankly I’m amazed any provider is in business at all.
When you say bureaucrats, in most cases what you mean are accountants who think they are business advisers. I have seen untold businesses ruin themselves by listening to accountants who think they are business advisers. That’s added on to all the make work by companies and government hiring their own children and the children of politicians to run things, that’s where all that Marxist crap is coming from. And indeed it is killing people, which is once again what the Marxists want. Everyone else dead, and they on top.
I worked on software to attempt accounts receivable for doctors’ offices. It’s basically impossible. All insurance is different, so you need to model each policy and even then what is published lags behind the real world, so it’s easier – and more effective – to look at the past billed vs received percentages and just assume the future will be much the same.
That’s deliberate, by the way. They churn the rules so no one can say for sure what’s going on.
Some years back I did battle with the insurance company on them not wanting to pay for a proven medication the wife had been on for some time… new year and new “rules” so she could not have her script filled. Doc said if we use the “required” substitution she is going into the hospital. The initial level of bureaucrats said they couldn’t do anything until it did not work and she was hospitalized (idiots). So, dug until I found a number for an executive type and finally got some common sense – explained they could pay the small difference for the correct drug or pay huge bill in hospital costs and asked what made more sense for them – follow dumb policy or make exception and save company big cost for hospital trip.
I got lucky and got somebody who really got the fiscal impact and quickly made an exception and made it permanent in her records. The guy even checked back with us a few months later to be sure it was still “ok” and told me they were changing the policy as it was currently “not financially acceptable”. Sometimes ya get lucky and the little guy wins.
Now, retired, we deal with Medicare but have a great gap-coverage policy and a great drug plan from my employer. Parting gifts for the retired and they have been wonderful. We learned long ago to establish a relationship with the pharmacy folks and our current go to pharmacy is great and looks out for us too. Just today I picked up a refill and everybody wanted to talk – how’s the Mrs. and asked about adventures with our dog. When I call in to get a refill or follow up on something new they always have time to talk and ensure we are getting the best service. Got lucky again and boy, am I glad!
I am not about to lift a finger against anyone; but I might be tempted to vote for a party who promised to put all of those who worked against America since Reagan on trial and after convictions, put their treasonous heads on pikes on the bridges over the Potomac, pour encourager les autres/i>.
Tempted, I say. But I wouldn’t believe them. Too much money involved; and humans are nothing if not weak.
Ooops…
WP is being even more WordPressy than usual today.
Washing machines that you have to put on “heavy duty” cycle and extra rinse (sometimes extra extra rinse) to have a hope of clothes that won’t drive my skin crazy. Even using “Clear and Free” detergents.
Next replacement, I AM digging in my heels with $SPOUSE$ and paying the extra for a Speed Queen.
Love ours, but they have f*cked with those too…hope you can find an older used one.
Or, do what we do, and buy an older reconditioned model, for a fraction of the price, that actually works.
We have a Speed Queen dryer, and it’s wonderful. ($SPOUSE hates towered washers, so no SQ there.) Our washer is a 1918 vintage Electrolux and it works well. (Front loader, and it replaced the towerless top loader from LG. That POS developed the squeak from hell that freaked out our old border collie. The fix would have been a new transmission, at almost the cost of a new machine. Nope.)
$SPOUSE does an extra rinse for really big loads, like the dog’s bedding. (She has a lot of bedding, left over from when we had two dogs and one piddled in her crate if she woke up at night. Kat doesn’t as long as her GI system is OK. Not now–combo of construction on the house plus rich treats backfired. Badly. That needed some time in the laundry sink plus two wash cycles. One more week on construction. We’re trying to spend as much time in the fenced off garden with her as possible.)
SIL says that her friends and neighbors (she goes to a largish church and likes to people, so a large sample) have been having very poor results from current appliances. 2 years for a fridge or washing machine isn’t that uncommon now. The smarter appliances seem to be the worst. One of our neighbors has had similar results, with a couple of freezers and a microwave failing in a year or two. (I have several guesses why, and Chinesium is involved in a few.)
Er, 2018 vintage. I have a Maytag engine, but it doesn’t run a washing machine…
Need Coffee!
The new stove at RedQuarters failed after 18 mo, the new oven after 13 months [circuit board died – but could be replaced thanks be], microwave one year, fridge lasted three years. No, DadRed was NOT happy.
We had the freezer problem, just over a year. Purchased with CC that gave us an extra year, just had to prove “not fixable” (would have been at 6x original cost, if the part could be purchased, but 2020, so couldn’t). Out the cost of the service call (which pissed me off, and I did complain to Costco proper about that part. Did not purchase at Costco, but used the Citi Costco CC). Did replace the freezer with one purchased from Costco which gives me at least 3 years warranty, minimum. Ditto the latest washer/dryer combo. Disadvantage no 6 month, no interest, payment stretch. Expect washer/dryer to last 12 – 14 years max (first set lasted 17 years, subsequent sets 12 – 13 years). Freezer should last 10 years or so (last one lasted 29 years and technically was working, it wouldn’t shutoff the freezing cycle. I think my power bill dropped $50/month when we got rid of it.) Current refrigerator is 16 years old. It will go anytime. Do not expect it to last 29+ years the last one did (it was still working when replaced. I stood in front of it going “Die!”. Again, power bill dropped when it was replaced.) Really like the “newer” one. Not fancy. Just more modern layout.) Not looking forward to having to replace the current refrigerator because we have very limited space and new ones tend to be huge (probably not finding one at Costco).
Our 2016 freezer replaced a 2012 vintage one that worked, but had major issues. First, the door would warp if warm air (from the forced air heat) would blow on it, and this would cause a leak. Turning off that register “fixed” the problem, but sheesh! The worse problem was when we had to redo a floor in that room and we had the freezer in the living room temporarily. At which point, it started dripping water from the door. Lots of water on a wood floor.
I unloaded the food, took the door off, and cleaned up. Dismantling the door, I discovered that the insulation was nicely entwined with several pounds of ice. Vents at the bottom of the freezer door were supposed to take care of the issue, but nope. The freezer and contents moved to the shop (concrete floor) until we could get a replacement. Didn’t want to pass on the problems, so it got tossed. (Not clear if the warping and freezing were intertwined, but some things were overlooked.)
Let’s just say I’m not enthusiastic about Whirlpool appliances. Have had good luck with Frigidaire/Electrolux, with appliances ranging from 5 to 12 years old so far.
We have small chest freezer. Added stackable recycling bins, with handles, for organizing. Big enough for us (holds 1/4 beef or half hog, with some room left). Any leaking is at the bottom of the freezer (not that it matters, it is in the garage on concrete).
When I bought the house in 2002 I researched to find what brand typically got purchased for bulk installation in apartment complexes, then bought Roper washer and dryer. Have had to do two repairs since then. Had to clean out lint blocking the dryer vent, and replaces the top lid safety interlock switch on the washer. Of course I only run one or two loads a week so YMMV.
Did a bit of current day checking and Roper is now a subsidiary of GE and all appliances are manufactured by Whirlpool.
My Dad was a crackerjack electro-mechanical engineer. He’d be able to take apart the controllers, look them over, and then rebuild them to eliminate all that crap. Me, I’m just a duffer compared to him. Been 11 years now, and still miss him.
If I added resistors to the path between the weight sensors and the controller, and be sure that it has a hard cap on the volume of water added, it would probably fix it.
Unfortunately, the rest of the family has a tendency to do “catch loads” – very tiny ones. It’s less waste to just rinse my loads twice or thrice to get the detergent out. (I’m also the only one with a serious allergic reaction to it.)
And on a side note it is June 21st and we are all still here Greta.
Foxnews has reported this too. In fact the young lady (now 21) was confronted with this by international reporters …
Off topic but on the general subject of bureaucrats meddling in stuff….
I work for an Illinois state agency that reviews other agencies’ rules. (Which I guess makes me one of those bureaucrats, but that’s another story.) For about the past 2 years I have been getting occasional calls from a group of day care providers complaining about the arbitrary policies that the Dept of Children and Family Services (the agency that regulates day care providers) imposes on them. It has gotten to the point that my agency is now leaning very heavily on DCFS to change its rules.
Recently I was talking to one of the day care providers and she wondered out loud if the state was intentionally trying to put private day care providers out of business so that the state can take over and just enroll all kids in public school from birth. That does sound a lot more plausible to me than it would have 10 or 15 years ago….
Local grade school (it is across the street, more or less, so yes, we can “see” what is going on) has pre-school for toddlers through age 4. “Free” for qualified enrolled. Which implies available for a cost for others. Convenient for those close by, and those not so close but have older children already at the grade school. Happening. (Grade school has always had a 3rd party pre/after school program when there was a spare room. We used it from the time son was starting kindergarten. But not toddler on. Don’t know if still 3rd party or district. But definitely a way to keep all the classrooms full with the number of children coming in declining. Bethel, our district hasn’t, but 4J is only replacing old HS and middle school buildings, not adding any. 4J has closed multiple grade schools (don’t know total count), 2 just in north Eugene alone. Bethel was making noise about having to add a HS, even with the alternative version available, but that noise has disappeared, not even a whisper.)
A funny video, that doesn’t even touch on Covaids bullshit. We don’t have a free market or a socialized health care system in America, but somehow figured out how to take the worst features of both systems and make a dysfunctional Pharma industrial complex out of it.
People should be made to suffer what they impose on others. The gaia-worshiping eco-crats should be sent to Papua New Guinea with no supplies or tools. And no mosquito repellent. I’ll let them have worn dungarees and Birkenstocks, though. The “save-money-by-process-until-surrender-or-death” regulators should be made to live in a voice-menu maze written by the designers of Zork–a maze of twisty little menus that make no sense and are changed continuously. Need to get to the toilet? Just press the frobnotzz key on your phone keypad–twice–and wait exactly 72.6 seconds! Got to the toilet? Oops, you forgot to specify toilet paper! Or a sink (with soap) to wash with. What, you wanted a drain in that sink?
Or the ones where you get through the twisty-little voice menu maze on the fourth try, manage to leave a voice mail, wait a day or so, for someone to get back to you, finally get fed up and go down to the office to register your complaint in person and find that the office is closed and there isn’t anyone there at all. I swear, there are some medical secretaries who don’t know how to use the system. Hmm. That shouldn’t surprise me, if the setup instructions are written by the same people who used to write instructions for programing a VCR…
OMG. Mom had her CC hacked. CC company caught it, verified not her, immediately cancelled her card and stopped the payments she didn’t verify as hers. Now she had to go through and change all the auto charges. Some she had to call on, some she did on line. But there were two that were a PIA. One we finally got done. Third, TV YouTube, I even had difficulty. (She doesn’t HAVE an Samsung S22, she has an iphone, dammit. Turns out even tho the google gmail account is tied to her iphone, phone number, it was also tied to my Samsung S22 which is a different phone number. How that happened I have no clue. Discovered after finally got it reset up.) Finally just cancelled her current TV Youtube account. Opened a new account tied to her yahoo email, then they won’t let that tie to her actual google account (fine, refused to create a new google account). I wrote software for 35 years. I can find a work around. (Yes, she should just be cancelling it, but “stubborn was coined after my mother” I swear.)
Have you considered buying over the interwebs from India?
I know some special meds can’t be bought that way, and you may need certain versions to avoid reactions, etc. and others may not be cheaper, but still. Most pharmacies are not compounding you anything and the pills they’re buying are coming from India anyway. Certainly the Adderall is buyable that way. And you have the script, not that they care.
https://www.alldaygeneric.com is who I used but there’s a couple dozen you can find through the FLCCC website.
I started with small purchases in case the money was going into a black hole but it’s been working for many months now and I’m very pleased. At least consider it for buying up things you know are going to be useful in the future.
I take insulin shots 4 times a day, three of them are of the fast acting insulin. For the past year and a half, a months supply was $35. Last month it was $70. Of course I tracked down the price increase. The answer from the insurance, A CVS silver script company, was this, this prescription was for 32 day not 31, so the price was the same as if it were for 90 days. Well in truth the amount was what would last for 28 days but apparently the prescription wasn’t specific so I paid and extra $35. I called the doctor’s office yesterday and talked to the person in charge of doing the refill prescriptions, she was of course horrified that had happened. So today I paid $35 for the same amount. There is no way the insurance is giving back any overcharge. I can afford this, but others can’t.
Sounds like almost every transaction I have had with the VA Healthcare system. You can’t describe any situation (no matter how calmly) without sounding crazy. It’s just a Kafkaesque nightmare.
This is not the VA. Or Medicare. It’s a relatively good private insurance, but each time they change insurance companies it becomes nuttier.
It’s only nuttier from your perspective. The insurance companies are getting more money.
Sarah, all I can say is that my dad was supposed to start treatment this past week for cancer. He didn’t.
That’s because United Health Care, which quickly approved all the diagnostics, is slow walking the approval for treatment. No one is responding to inquiries as to why, and the cancer center won’t proceed without approval.
One has to wonder if a white Christian male is being turned down for DIE reasons.