If you think there’s no reason to shop for health care, check out this doctor’s blog post – her patients were skipping needed care because of high costs, even her own mother. http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2010/04/price-transparency-improve-patient-care.html
Affordable care was available, as the examples here point out, but it’s hard to find prices and comparison shop for health care.
Dr. Leslie Ramirez decided to help out, at least if you live in the Chicago area. She’s compiling her own list of affordable care providers. Wouldn’t it be great if every town had a list like this: http://www.leslieslist.org/index.php
Skip that $3000 MRI and get one for $350, as long as your doctor says it will do the job. It takes a little legwork, but for somebody like me with a high-deductible health plan, there’s an immediate payoff.
Even for those who have only a $20 co-pay for unlimited MRIs, CTs etc., if we all did this, we would be shrinking the number of our health dollars needed, bringing down the cost overall. That’s the power we have as consumers.
It’s like that saying, “When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping! And believe me, shopping for health care prices can be tough, but I dug up a few more places to get started. -- Susan at Regence
MRI: http://www.comparemricost.com/
Common health screenings: http://www.costhelper.com/cost/health/
See if your hospital has information like this:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/09/10/health.care.price.comparison/index.html
Find a low-cost clinic: http://findahealthcenter.hrsa.gov/
Check local community and information referral services: http://www.airs.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=1
Compare quality too: HHS.-- www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov
Medication – comparative effectiveness and cost: RegenceRx
Some states and regions are helping consumers find good health care:
Puget Sound (Wash.) Health Alliance – community check-up
http://www.wacommunitycheckup.org/?p=home
Oregon hospital costs: http://www.oregon.gov/OHPPR/RSCH/comparehospitalcosts.shtml
Provider quality: http://www.partnerforqualitycare.org/
Showing posts with label health costs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label health costs. Show all posts
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Friday, December 11, 2009
The first word in health care reform is health
There’s a lot of passion in the health reform debate about who should do what. Health plans should take everybody. Premiums should be affordable. The system should be more efficient. I say, "Yes" to all of the above.
But there are some things doctors, hospitals, medicines and health plans just can’t do.
Case in point: My husband Mike was diagnosed as “pre-diabetic” – not to worry, there’s medication for that. I said, “Whoa. Type II diabetes is wakeup call. We gotta make some changes.” What’s the big deal, he says -- one more pill, just a $20 co-pay.
I dared him to ask the doctor, “What would it take to lower blood sugar and not be pre-diabetic?” Answer: lose weight, start exercising. And that would also reduce your high blood pressure. Ha -- two birds, one stone, no meds.
Mike also got the low-down from friends with advanced Type II diabetes. Linda has such bad pain in her legs, “I wish they would just cut them off, some days.” Renee warned: “You do not want this. Stop it now.”
So, we got a stationary bike, adjusted our eating and he dropped 40 pounds in three months. The doctor was impressed: lower blood pressure and blood sugar. No meds—for now. The challenge is to keep it up.
Of course, a pill would be easier -- at first. Those (many) times we just want to watch TV and break out the snack food, it is reeeealy haaaard to remember -- walk, or suffer pain like Linda. Shut the refrigerator, or struggle with yo-yo blood sugar craziness, like Renee.
I realize not every disease is within our control, but these conditions -- high blood pressure and diabetes – usually reflect a lifetime of choices around food and exercise. They are strongly correlated to heart disease, which kills more Americans than all cancers combined.
No doctor can make me do the right thing. Having health coverage does not liberate me from the responsibility to eat right and break a sweat a couple times a week.
An act of Congress can get more people covered but it doesn’t come free. And, I still have to do my own exercise. Darn it.
What are your challenges to staying healthy? Please share what’s helped you stay on track at the What’sTheRealCost Facebook page..
Susan at Regence
But there are some things doctors, hospitals, medicines and health plans just can’t do.
Case in point: My husband Mike was diagnosed as “pre-diabetic” – not to worry, there’s medication for that. I said, “Whoa. Type II diabetes is wakeup call. We gotta make some changes.” What’s the big deal, he says -- one more pill, just a $20 co-pay.
I dared him to ask the doctor, “What would it take to lower blood sugar and not be pre-diabetic?” Answer: lose weight, start exercising. And that would also reduce your high blood pressure. Ha -- two birds, one stone, no meds.
Mike also got the low-down from friends with advanced Type II diabetes. Linda has such bad pain in her legs, “I wish they would just cut them off, some days.” Renee warned: “You do not want this. Stop it now.”
So, we got a stationary bike, adjusted our eating and he dropped 40 pounds in three months. The doctor was impressed: lower blood pressure and blood sugar. No meds—for now. The challenge is to keep it up.
Of course, a pill would be easier -- at first. Those (many) times we just want to watch TV and break out the snack food, it is reeeealy haaaard to remember -- walk, or suffer pain like Linda. Shut the refrigerator, or struggle with yo-yo blood sugar craziness, like Renee.
I realize not every disease is within our control, but these conditions -- high blood pressure and diabetes – usually reflect a lifetime of choices around food and exercise. They are strongly correlated to heart disease, which kills more Americans than all cancers combined.
No doctor can make me do the right thing. Having health coverage does not liberate me from the responsibility to eat right and break a sweat a couple times a week.
An act of Congress can get more people covered but it doesn’t come free. And, I still have to do my own exercise. Darn it.
What are your challenges to staying healthy? Please share what’s helped you stay on track at the What’sTheRealCost Facebook page.
Susan at Regence
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Have you noticed you can put "e-" in front of just about anything, and we all know what that means? We do so much online today – (r)e-tail, e-zines, e-trading and e-banking. And now there’s e-patient.
New research says that 61 percent of us go online for health information from trusted websites. We research symptoms to see if we need to a doctor, and then look up the diagnosis and treatment after we go to the doctor. About one in five e-patients interact with each other online, comparing experiences to broaden their understanding at Patients Like Me or e-patients.net
Whether it’s a simple diagnosis or a complex life-changing condition, being an e-patient helps us be effective and educated about what we can do to support our own health. I’ve talked in this blog about my own experience with looking online and replacing prescription meds with over-the-counter remedies – it was really empowering to do that myself because these options weren’t on my doctor’s radar.
People with the most experience in the health care system – those with chronic conditions – are really active e-patients, because they know how hard it is to figure out the treatment routine that works for them. They have a lot of experience challenging the system and asking “why” and “how much.”
As we are all paying more for health care these days, here’s another online resource for the e-patient: our Cost Generator, so we can be prepared with the real price tag of medical procedures.
If you've got an e-patient story, please let us hear about it at our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/TheRealCost.
— Susan with Regence
New research says that 61 percent of us go online for health information from trusted websites. We research symptoms to see if we need to a doctor, and then look up the diagnosis and treatment after we go to the doctor. About one in five e-patients interact with each other online, comparing experiences to broaden their understanding at Patients Like Me or e-patients.net
Whether it’s a simple diagnosis or a complex life-changing condition, being an e-patient helps us be effective and educated about what we can do to support our own health. I’ve talked in this blog about my own experience with looking online and replacing prescription meds with over-the-counter remedies – it was really empowering to do that myself because these options weren’t on my doctor’s radar.
People with the most experience in the health care system – those with chronic conditions – are really active e-patients, because they know how hard it is to figure out the treatment routine that works for them. They have a lot of experience challenging the system and asking “why” and “how much.”
As we are all paying more for health care these days, here’s another online resource for the e-patient: our Cost Generator, so we can be prepared with the real price tag of medical procedures.
If you've got an e-patient story, please let us hear about it at our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/TheRealCost.
— Susan with Regence
Thursday, November 12, 2009
After House bill passed, more are asking: What's the real cost?
Real health care reform would put a halt to some of the $700 billion wasted each year in treatment and other expenses that do nothing to improve health.
The House bill does adopt new insurance rules and gets nearly everyone covered. But the consensus of news organizations around the country – and across the political spectrum – is that the bill passed by the U.S. House will do little to curb rampant medical spending.
Let’s not lose sight of real reforms that have the potential to reduce costs for everyone.
These people are also asking, "What's the real cost?"
Washington Post: Editorial: Flawed health reform
“As we have said, it does not do enough to control costs, and it is not funded in a sustainable way. Expanding coverage for the uninsured is imperative, but so, too, is getting the country on a credible fiscal path."
The Columbus Dispatch: Editorial: Cooking the Books
“Americans want an improvement in the nation's health-care system, not only for themselves but for their neighbors. But they should not be saddled with an unsustainable, unaffordable overhaul sold to them with accounting gimmicks and rosy projections.”
Huffington Post: Cost containment remains the missing piece
The most important debate - how to slow the inexorable growth of health care costs - has scarcely begun…. The House bill fails to deal seriously with the long-term challenge of reducing the unsustainable pace at which health care costs grow each year. That is what drives premiums up for working Americans, helps to price U.S. businesses out of global competition, and escalates spending on Medicare and Medicaid.
Philadelphia Inquirer: Historic but unaffordable
House plan … is unaffordable despite bearing the title "Affordable Health Care for America Act." Unfortunately, the House measure does little to rein in escalating health-care costs, and that, in the end, would harm the middle class and small businesses alike.
New York Times: How to control rising health costs
With the House’s passage of a health care bill and the Senate legislation possibly moving to the floor for debate next week, many analysts are saying that neither bill goes far enough to slow rising health care costs — an issue that President Obama has made central to his reform agenda.
San Diego Union-Tribune: Fear of health ‘reform’ is warranted
“Consider the…basic promises about…health overhaul: that it actually would save money, that the only new taxes would be on the very wealthy and that individuals would be free to keep their present coverage and doctors. Each of these claims is a myth.”
Denver Post: A long way to go on health reform
Los Angeles Times: Health care’s hurdles
Atlantic: The case for a cost containment commission
The Salt Lake Tribune: Health care reform
The House bill does adopt new insurance rules and gets nearly everyone covered. But the consensus of news organizations around the country – and across the political spectrum – is that the bill passed by the U.S. House will do little to curb rampant medical spending.
Let’s not lose sight of real reforms that have the potential to reduce costs for everyone.
These people are also asking, "What's the real cost?"
Washington Post: Editorial: Flawed health reform
“As we have said, it does not do enough to control costs, and it is not funded in a sustainable way. Expanding coverage for the uninsured is imperative, but so, too, is getting the country on a credible fiscal path."
The Columbus Dispatch: Editorial: Cooking the Books
“Americans want an improvement in the nation's health-care system, not only for themselves but for their neighbors. But they should not be saddled with an unsustainable, unaffordable overhaul sold to them with accounting gimmicks and rosy projections.”
Huffington Post: Cost containment remains the missing piece
The most important debate - how to slow the inexorable growth of health care costs - has scarcely begun…. The House bill fails to deal seriously with the long-term challenge of reducing the unsustainable pace at which health care costs grow each year. That is what drives premiums up for working Americans, helps to price U.S. businesses out of global competition, and escalates spending on Medicare and Medicaid.
Philadelphia Inquirer: Historic but unaffordable
House plan … is unaffordable despite bearing the title "Affordable Health Care for America Act." Unfortunately, the House measure does little to rein in escalating health-care costs, and that, in the end, would harm the middle class and small businesses alike.
New York Times: How to control rising health costs
With the House’s passage of a health care bill and the Senate legislation possibly moving to the floor for debate next week, many analysts are saying that neither bill goes far enough to slow rising health care costs — an issue that President Obama has made central to his reform agenda.
San Diego Union-Tribune: Fear of health ‘reform’ is warranted
“Consider the…basic promises about…health overhaul: that it actually would save money, that the only new taxes would be on the very wealthy and that individuals would be free to keep their present coverage and doctors. Each of these claims is a myth.”
Denver Post: A long way to go on health reform
Los Angeles Times: Health care’s hurdles
Atlantic: The case for a cost containment commission
The Salt Lake Tribune: Health care reform
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