Why is medicare going to be nonexistent?

[Vtachy1]

Well, just got my grandma, who is 98 years old, (lives with me) bill in the mail for a simple office visit to the doctor. $48 for CBC $65 for CMP, $93 for a vitamin B12, $182 for a Vitamin D, $13 for a venipuncture total bill was $401. For lab work on a 98 year old. Come on people!!!!

Do not do this to me when I am 98 years old. My gosh!! Unbelievable. And its not the doctor's fault its skanky blood sucking lawyers that want to fault doctors for every little test they didn't do. I think it should be the opposite, we should start suing for dumb blood work that is ridiculous.

I told my two kids who are teenagers about this bill and my husband and I both said "do not do this to us!!!!" Save the $400 for my grandkids' medicare.

Stupidest thing in the world was a hospice visit I made to a family putting dad through the meat grinder on dialysis. $50,000 a month and he had absolutely no quality of life at all, pain, confusion, could not do one single ADL, family couldn't name one thing that is good about prolonging the inevitable, but they still refused to start hospice and stop the dialysis. Please don't do this to me, I have told every person I know not to do this to me!!

[hppygr8ful, ASN, RN, EMT-I]

Then the facility social workers are not doing their jobs. They need to steer people toward applying for Medicaid, which DOES cover custodial, long term care (and also room and board for Hospice, by the way) when the money starts to run out. Facilities now are reluctant to accept "PA pending" patients, so if everything is in place and Mom qualifies for Medicaid, there's no worry-facilities do have limited Medicaid beds, though, so getting things rolling early can help assure Mom can stay put.

I'll admit that I suffer from a bit of insanity where the ACA is concerned. I was raised by people from a different generation who believed in personal responsibility and not handouts from anyone including the government. I guess I will have to respectively bow out of the conversation. I know what I know and most of the links people post to defend the ACA are part of the socialist liberal propaganda system, just as those opposed are also often based on propaganda. I prefer to see what's really happening in healthcare by talking to the actual people who need it and are getting it. So no I can't always cite sources. 7 Hospitals within 20 miles of my home have closed since the ACA passed so while healthcare for some may have become more affordable it has not become more accessible. I will remain skeptical.

Hppy

[ktwlpn, LPN]

You do realize that if a patient is alert and oriented the POA paper is basically just a piece of paper? Until she can't speak for herself, the granddaughter has no legal right to make decisions.

Of course I do...The point I am trying to make is blaming the physician does not absolve the patient or the patient's advocate from refusing things they perceive to be unnecessary...It also sounds as though the poster is depended upon by the grandmother.

[toomuchbaloney]

I'll admit that I suffer from a bit of insanity where the ACA is concerned. I was raised by people from a different generation who believed in personal responsibility and not handouts from anyone including the government. I guess I will have to respectively bow out of the conversation. I know what I know and most of the links people post to defend the ACA are part of the socialist liberal propaganda system, just as those opposed are also often based on propaganda. I prefer to see what's really happening in healthcare by talking to the actual people who need it and are getting it. So no I can't always cite sources. 7 Hospitals within 20 miles of my home have closed since the ACA passed so while healthcare for some may have become more affordable it has not become more accessible. I will remain skeptical.

Hppy

How is the mandate to purchase health insurance a "handout".

So when I or others have posted links from sources like Forbes, or Business Insider, or similar to discuss or defend aspects of the ACA that is tantamount to evidence of a socialist liberal propaganda system?

We all have anecdotal experience with health care, hospitals, and insurance.

Are you saying that 7 hospitals closed in your region because more citizens suddenly had health insurance and the number of people with unpaid or uninsured care dropped after the ACA was passed?

[Vtachy1]

Of course I do...The point I am trying to make is blaming the physician does not absolve the patient or the patient's advocate from refusing things they perceive to be unnecessary...It also sounds as though the poster is depended upon by the grandmother.

Its ridiculous that he would order these expensive tests without asking. Just because medicare and her supplement insurance pays for it, is no excuse for the doctor to order it without asking us and telling us. TOO MUCH TESTING!!!! We all need to ask a ton of questions, and shop around.

My 15 YO DS just had a hydrocele. Doctor ordered an ultrasound, we had it done as ordered. Then we learned a lesson I hope to pass on to everyone I know. A week after the ultrasound we received a bill for $1400. I about flipped because I have been trained and I do ultrasounds for free every Wednesday at the pregnancy center. I KNOW they don't cost that much. We checked the Kelly Bluebook for Healthcare and it says $250 for a testicular ultrasound. We went to the hospital negotiated with them, told them it was ridiculous, and I don't want to pay for 6 people's ultrasounds, I want to pay for my DS's. I don't want to pay for medicaid, medicare, and people who don't pay their medical bills, I just want to pay my DSs. So they did take of $500. Which is better then nothing. but next time we shop around and find a good price. We have health insurance but high deductible which I prefer and love the HSA option. LOVE it. WE have had it for 17 years. LOve the HSAs!!!

[ktwlpn, LPN]

We do all need to take an active part in our care,not passively submit to a bunch of expensive labs and studies...

[dream'n, BSN, RN]

I'll be upfront and say I'm a proponent of Socialism: We need a single-payer health care system. Mountains of ridiculous tax dollars spent on the aged, but Medicaid denying life saving surgery to poor young people. Just combine Medicare/Medicaid and make it a one big payer system for all Americans. Then maybe we will be able to cut out the unnecessary expenses and break the hold that insurance companies have over our lives.

[wyosamRN]

Its ridiculous that he would order these expensive tests without asking. Just because medicare and her supplement insurance pays for it, is no excuse for the doctor to order it without asking us and telling us. TOO MUCH TESTING!!!! We all need to ask a ton of questions, and shop around.

There is a very important piece of this puzzle missing. Why was she at the doctor? How long since she last had lab work done? If you go to the doctor and say "I don't feel well", or grandma doesn't feel well, you are asking them to figure out why. If the answer is apparent on physical exam, that may very well be the end of it. If it is not, then checking some basic labs makes sense- and unless they had been done recently, all those might make very good sense. Particularly with a healthcare professional family member accompanying the patient, I have a hard time blaming the doctor or the "system" for unwanted "unneeded" tests.

[Spangle Brown]

I'll be upfront and say I'm a proponent of Socialism: We need a single-payer health care system. Mountains of ridiculous tax dollars spent on the aged but Medicaid denying life saving surgery to poor young people. Just combine Medicare/Medicaid and make it a one big payer system for all Americans. Then maybe we will be able to cut out the unnecessary expenses and break the hold that insurance companies have over our lives.[/quote']

And VA. Medicare/Medicaid/VA. OH, and what is the one that the elected officials in DC get for life?? Either way, it would be easier if it was all the same cookie jar.