Word: carefuls
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...that added up to $12,000 is an object lesson in how health care expenditures have run amok in this country, and how critical it is that whatever reform bill comes out of Washington this year tackles this economy-wrecking mess. That's especially true in a market like Miami, which holds the dubious distinctions of having one of the nation's lowest median incomes yet its highest medical costs. According to a study released Thursday by Families USA, a Washington-based healthcare watchdog, family health insurance premiums for Florida workers doubled over the past decade, rising four times faster...
...mean to slight the care I received, which was excellent. And fortunately, the total cost for my insurer was about $7,100 after its discount, a small part of which was my co-payment. But had I not been insured, I would have been stuck with the entire $12,000 bill. Reform advocates say charging even $7,100 for something as ordinary as a kidney stone just doesn't make sense and points up what they call the rampant U.S. practice of "defensive medicine": ordering excessive treatment out of fear of being sued for malpractice, which in turn points...
Another "protocol" that left me bewildered was the $3,013 charge for the physician's care. It was coded on the bill as Level 5 - the highest, what you would think would be charged for, say, shooting victims or massive coronary patients. While I was admittedly in epic pain during those few hours when the stone drilled its way from kidney to bladder, my case was nowhere near life-threatening. Again, I was simply told, "The doctor determined your care was of the nature reflected by the level that's on the bill...
...fair, the E.R. care level often has less to do with the severity of the case than with the diagnostic work required of the physician. Still, $3,000 for diagnosing a kidney stone "is unfortunately all too typical in Miami," says one South Florida healthcare expert - a big reason the average annual private healthcare provider costs for a family of four in the city is a remarkable...
...could get funding in a federal reform bill, is a healthcare delivery model called Patient-Centered Medical Homes. PCMH links patients up with personalized healthcare teams in their communities, which in turn provide more focused, efficient and less costly medical services. An important PCMH feature is making non-emergency care - like less expensive urgent care - more 24/7 accessible to patients who really don't require emergency-level attention. (My kidney stone hit me at night, when my local urgent-care clinic was closed, leaving me with little choice but an E.R.) PCMH "is something we need to encourage because...