[lit-ideas] Re: Life or death
- From: "JimKandJulieB@xxxxxxx Krueger" <juliereneb@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 4 Apr 2007 11:23:46 -0500
<<I'm a little more than overwrought about this whole "healthcare"
situation. Medically, we might as well call the US a third world country,
unless we intend to get serious. I just lost a neighbor (working woman in
her 50s, no health insurance) to untreated asthma. She went to a doctor,
finally, but couldn't afford the drugs. Had COPD for the last two years of
her life. Meds, oxygen--treatment is available, for those who can pay.>>
I'm all too well aware of this particular issue. I'm sure I have said in
older health-care rants that my husband does outpatient respiratory
therapy. All of his patients are terminal, and the large majority on
Medicare. Medicaid is almost worthless in MO at this point as the number of
things it will cover has decreased rapidly and vastly. Many of our patients
have asthma, and most have COPD (although that's a fairly broad umbrella
term covering all kinds of diseases). Many do not have a co-insurance. We
don't bill those for the co-pay. We "eat" the deductible unless the patient
is someone we know can well afford it. Jim has, in his 17 years of
business, provided oxygen treatment when a client either has a private
insurance that won't cover it (yes, those exist) or lacks Medicare. If you
are considered legally disabled for two years, under MO law (not sure about
the rest of the country), you can qualify for Medicare no matter your age.
Of course, if you need oxygen anytim during those two years of disability,
well, hey. I think I've also said in previous healthcare rants, that while
the cost of oxygen treatments has risen sharply, Medicare has not changed
their allowable payment fees for a decade. If you deal with private
insurance companies, they set a cap on what they are willing to pay; so for,
e.g., equipment that costs a couple thousand dollars for the therapist to
purchase, the insurance company will pay a monthly amount for one year.
That yearly total rarely exceeds the cost of the equipment. And, to be
reimbursed by private insurance companies, you have to, as a provider, do an
elaborate song & dance of paper-work and contracting (usually meaning that
you agree to be reimbursed at whatever fee schedule the private insurance
company feels like paying at the moment). Let's talk oxygen tanks -- in
some bizarre train of thought, someone decided to approve the tanks
themselves under Medicare, but not the oxygen itself (which costs us
hundreds of dollars a month). Medical providers are being squeezed out of
business simply because the net income can barely keep the lights on.
Moreover, the people who need health care the most desperately are the first
to be turned away by any insurance scheme.
I think I'm done now. For the moment.
Julie Krueger
Other related posts:
