Ava
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Post by Ava on Mar 23, 2014 12:35:22 GMT -5
Costs of healthcare are insane and it's good to think outside the box. I am very happy with my dental care provider; one of those franchises "Dr. Dental" style, and the service they provide is good. Now I've found out about "Minute Clinics". I think they are always located inside CVS pharmacies. There's one 2 minutes away from my home. I went to the website and I was surprised. I thought this type of place only dealt with minor injuries and illnesses such as coughs and skin rashes. No; they are a little better than that. They offer screenings and vaccinations. I didn't know. For instance, a health check-up that includes blood pressure is $89 dollars. That's way less than I had to pay my doctor, after insurance. Another bonus, at least for me; the hours. They are open during the weekend which means no using vacation time. I only go to the doctor once a year for a checkup. I'll give them a try this summer for my check up. Pity they don't do mammograms; I still need to see a gyno. Check them out. Even with insurance it may be cheaper and more convenient. If you don't have them near you, I'm sure there are other types of "Minute Clinic". The ones in CVS are just one type; but pretty positive there are other franchises. I think it may be a valid way to save time and money. As for surgery, etc. my plan is medical tourism. I still pay my health insurance from the old country, and it covers all surgeries and hospitalization with no out-of-pocket costs. Unless it's an emergency, of course. Then I'll use my insurance here and hope for the best. Sick and tired of being price gouged by the healthcare "industry". I've paid one healthcare crazy bill too many.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 23, 2014 13:13:01 GMT -5
We LOVE those places. I've used them for the occasional case of poison ivy that gets so bad it keeps me awake at night. DH has used them because when he comes own with a cold, sometimes it morphs into bronchitis or pneumonia. He's 75 and has some chronic health issues and knows that if he shows up in the ER or maybe at his regular doc they'll want him in the hospital, and he really wants to get better in his own bed. Some facilities even have X-ray equipment. I had pneumonia about 20 years ago, now that I think of it, which was diagnosed and treated at one of these clinics.
I did read that one chain (CareSpot) is owned by a hospital chain and they load on some phony "facilities fee" so you still have to be careful about the cost.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 23, 2014 13:49:00 GMT -5
a yearly well woman visit, with mammogram, is now free under ACA and has been that way for a few years....I'm guessing you have to have some sort of insurance plan for it.
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Ava
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Post by Ava on Mar 23, 2014 14:05:27 GMT -5
a yearly well woman visit, with mammogram, is now free under ACA and has been that way for a few years....I'm guessing you have to have some sort of insurance plan for it. I have one of those high deductible insurance plans. Probably I won't have to pay for the mammogram. I don't know, each time I've been to a doctor the insurance doesn't cover it. I call them and they always find a reason. Besides that, most doctors only have appointments available during my work hours. That's another big thing with me; I don't have a lot of vacation time, and I don't want to waste it sitting in a doctor's office. I'm sure I won't have to pay for the mammogram, but they'll charge me for other things, they always do. I'll see a gyno this summer, and I'll get a mammogram. But besides that, I am trying to limit my exposure to huge medical facilities. I had a skin rash, pretty bad, last year. I went to the hospital's walk in center. The insurance didn't cover it because, according to them, it was ER, even though it was the walk in center. Then the walk-in-clinic belongs to a non-profit hospital that recently associated with an out-of-state health group. They sent me two bills; one for the doctor and one for the hospital. I paid $519 for that. And it didn't fix my skin rash. I had to schedule an appointment with my primary care physician. The diagnostic I got at the walk-in-clinic was correct but the cream they prescribed wasn't strong enough. Another $139 co-payment and three weeks later I had my skin rash issue solved.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 23, 2014 14:50:06 GMT -5
a yearly well woman visit, with mammogram, is now free under ACA and has been that way for a few years....I'm guessing you have to have some sort of insurance plan for it. I have one of those high deductible insurance plans. Probably I won't have to pay for the mammogram. I don't know, each time I've been to a doctor the insurance doesn't cover it. I call them and they always find a reason. Besides that, most doctors only have appointments available during my work hours. That's another big thing with me; I don't have a lot of vacation time, and I don't want to waste it sitting in a doctor's office. I'm sure I won't have to pay for the mammogram, but they'll charge me for other things, they always do. I'll see a gyno this summer, and I'll get a mammogram. But besides that, I am trying to limit my exposure to huge medical facilities. I had a skin rash, pretty bad, last year. I went to the hospital's walk in center. The insurance didn't cover it because, according to them, it was ER, even though it was the walk in center. Then the walk-in-clinic belongs to a non-profit hospital that recently associated with an out-of-state health group. They sent me two bills; one for the doctor and one for the hospital. I paid $519 for that. And it didn't fix my skin rash. I had to schedule an appointment with my primary care physician. The diagnostic I got at the walk-in-clinic was correct but the cream they prescribed wasn't strong enough. Another $139 co-payment and three weeks later I had my skin rash issue solved. I also have a high deductible insurance plan and haven't paid for a well-woman visit for 3+ years....I also had a mammogram 2 or 3 years ago and didn't have to pay for that.
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ken a.k.a OMK
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Post by ken a.k.a OMK on Mar 23, 2014 15:13:03 GMT -5
We were paying $200 a year for tri-care. When we turned 65 we had to pay $200 a month to Medicare, and our provider is still tri-care with no fee.
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dannylion
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Post by dannylion on Mar 23, 2014 15:29:03 GMT -5
Well-woman visits are supposed to be covered now. When I went for mine last year, I didn't even have to pay the copay.
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Ava
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Post by Ava on Mar 23, 2014 16:13:04 GMT -5
Well-woman visits are supposed to be covered now. When I went for mine last year, I didn't even have to pay the copay. That's great! I hope I don't have to pay anything out of pocket for my visit this year. I'm going to insist they code it right. Coding and billing is a nightmare. But for my yearly check-up for primary care, I'll visit the clinic. They also accept insurance. I don't know if mine will work, because it's not very good. If it's out of network, the insurance won't cover it. But even if I have to pay full cost, the clinic is less than what I had to pay last year out-of-pocket for my visit after insurance. I also found out another clinic near me that has X-rays, exams, etc. There are options out there, and I think they are worth investigating. That's why I say; as long as healthcare remains so expensive, we have to think outside the box and try to become aware of options BEFORE we need care. Personally, I'm all for universal healthcare and single payer. But we are not there yet, and we have to work with what we got.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 23, 2014 16:48:01 GMT -5
I'll be honest, Ava, I didn't have well-woman visits when I was your age. I got a pap smear each year, but that's all. Whenever you go to the doctor for anything, they check your blood pressure. There are screenings everywhere (free) for other stuff. Do they now suggest mammograms for young women, or are you over 40? That's when it was suggested we get our first one (unless you felt a lump) to give a "baseline." But there are even hospitals outreach programs here that cover that. Believe it or not, you can go to the mall during Breast Care Awareness Month, and a local hospital has teamed up to do mammograms for about $40.
A lot of times we don't need to go to the doctor. Poison ivy is a good example. I've gotten it several times over the past few years. The only time I had to go to the doctor was when I got it near my eyes. Colds are another. I grew up in a time when most people didn't have insurance that covered doctor's visits. Dr. Mom was your primary care physician. When I got my public teaching job, I went to the Health Dept. for my tb test. I had insurance, but I didn't want to pay the copay.
Another way to control health care costs is to print out the list of cheap meds that Walmart sells without insurance. I take Lisinopril for blood pressure, and it is $10 for a 90-day supply without insurance. They have antibiotics and other stuff. Take that with you to the doctor and let him/her look at it. There may be something on it that you can take.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 23, 2014 16:55:18 GMT -5
I'll be honest, Ava, I didn't have well-woman visits when I was your age. I got a pap smear each year, but that's all. Whenever you go to the doctor for anything, they check your blood pressure. There are screenings everywhere (free) for other stuff. Do they now suggest mammograms for young women, or are you over 40? That's when it was suggested we get our first one (unless you felt a lump) to give a "baseline." But there are even hospitals outreach programs here that cover that. Believe it or not, you can go to the mall during Breast Care Awareness Month, and a local hospital has teamed up to do mammograms for about $40. A lot of times we don't need to go to the doctor. Poison ivy is a good example. I've gotten it several times over the past few years. The only time I had to go to the doctor was when I got it near my eyes. Colds are another. I grew up in a time when most people didn't have insurance that covered doctor's visits. Dr. Mom was your primary care physician. When I got my public teaching job, I went to the Health Dept. for my tb test. I had insurance, but I didn't want to pay the copay. Another way to control health care costs is to print out the list of cheap meds that Walmart sells without insurance. I take Lisinopril for blood pressure, and it is $10 for a 90-day supply without insurance. They have antibiotics and other stuff. Take that with you to the doctor and let him/her look at it. There may be something on it that you can take. a pap smear is part of a well-woman visit and now they are only recommended every 2nd or 3rd year if your previous one was fine. but if you want birth control pills you need a visit every year.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 23, 2014 17:06:23 GMT -5
Thanks for explaining, singlemom. I am way out of date.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 23, 2014 17:14:33 GMT -5
Thanks for explaining, singlemom. I am way out of date. also my midwife would do all bloodwork for me if I didn't have to have a separate visit to an endocrinologist for my thyroid (which I pay the entire cost of the visit but bloodwork is covered completely, just like the mammogram)
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Mar 23, 2014 17:15:30 GMT -5
I'll be honest, Ava, I didn't have well-woman visits when I was your age. I got a pap smear each year, but that's all. Whenever you go to the doctor for anything, they check your blood pressure.
That is essentially a well woman visit, Susana. They do a pap smear, test your blood pressure, make sure that you don't have any other issues and prescribe birth control pills or hormones.
I've gone just about every year, as it was required in order to get another year of birth control pills.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 23, 2014 17:22:50 GMT -5
Ok. My well visit now is a pap smear, a mammogram, a battery of blood tests (iron, cholesterol, vitamin D, glucose, etc.), and a talk with the doctor. When I was in my 20s and 30s, it was a pap smear without the other or a talk with the doctor. I just got a letter in the mail saying that it was "normal." I didn't do birth control because DH got snipped after our second child. Supposedly, I couldn't have children without help. I guess my husband counted as help.
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resolution
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Post by resolution on Mar 23, 2014 17:27:36 GMT -5
I still have to pay for my well woman exams, my health care plan was grandfathered in so none of the ACA provisions apply to it.
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TheOtherMe
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Post by TheOtherMe on Mar 23, 2014 17:28:16 GMT -5
I live in too small of an area for these clinics. I have to rely on my health insurance. Thankfully, it is very good.
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Mar 23, 2014 17:30:30 GMT -5
I think that if you have minor issues, or generally healthy, then an urgent care clinic can take care of your needs. Hell, when I was younger the only time I went to the doctor was in order to get my birth control pills, as I generally did not need anything and I refused to go for a cold/minor illness.
However, when you get older or start to have chronic problems, only utilizing an urgent care clinic can be more of a hindrance than a help and it becomes more important that you see a single doctor in order for continuity of care.
Here's a good example. My dad has hypertension and was in the military. Unfortunately, when he'd go into the clinic to get his blood pressure checked, he never saw the same doctor and because he went from doctor to doctor, there was no continuity of care so no logical way to weed out which meds worked for him and which did not. Normal process is pretty much trial and error, you try a drug for a couple weeks, go back and get checked and adjustments are made to either increase the dosage or change pills altogether. He decided to go to a private doctor, paid out of pocket for her and in less than 6 months she had his blood pressure under control. However, getting jacked around for those years has done irreparable damage to his kidneys.
I've used an urgent care clinic for emergent problems, but I also had a primary care doctor because I also have hypertension. The advantage of this is when I have something like a UTI, I can call her and she will call me in a prescription without a visit because she knows me and trusts that I know what I've got. When my hip had a catastrophic failure, I called her to ask for a prescription for narcotics for pain relief for a week until I could get into see my orthopod.
It is YOUR responsibility to know what AND WHO your insurance covers and does not cover.
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Blonde Granny
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Post by Blonde Granny on Mar 23, 2014 17:42:41 GMT -5
Ok, age 69.5 here and on Medicare with a supplement Plan F. I see my PC physician every 6 months, along with blood work. We discuss any changes in lab results, and how my meds are doing, i.e blood pressure, cholesterol, etc. Both visits are covered by Medicare & supplement pays the 20% Medicare doesn't pay. I have reached the age now where I don't need a pap test (YEA!!!). I am a 20 year breast cancer survivor and I do without fail have a mammogram every year. I had a non-covered mammo a year ago, and I covered the entire cost as Medicare has not approved the test yet. I think it was $250.
My cardiologist was recommended to me by PC as both work under the umbrella of a local major hospital. Cardio had access to all my records from PC due to hospital having all the info. I also will continue to see cardio every 6 months with no OOP expenses. My PC just recommend a dermatologist, had a couple of spots removed, and again, Medicare + supplement and I paid no bills for services. My knee replacement was close to $80K and again, no further bills.
Part D is the drug plan and so far, I'm not a real fan of it. I can do better just telling WMT I have no Part D coverage and getting the needed generic drugs at $10/90 days as Susana mentioned.
Most of the walk-in clinics around here are open M-F 7AM till 6 PM. Good luck finding someone other than emergency room on a weekend. But would I rely on a walk-in place for care instead of my PC, nope, not a chance. Doc in the Box is fine for getting a flu shot, but our one experience with it here for DH was an absolute failure.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 23, 2014 19:02:01 GMT -5
Besides that, most doctors only have appointments available during my work hours. That's another big thing with me; I don't have a lot of vacation time, and I don't want to waste it sitting in a doctor's office. Our local hospitals have separate mammogram clinics where you can make an appointment or just walk in. I was able to drop in at one near my office first thing in the AM and be at work pretty much on time. I used another one in NJ that wasn't attached to a hospital but they took appointments and ran on time. More expensive but I was happy to pay to not have my time wasted. Yeah, you've got to watch that. Hospitals want a share of this market- it's generally minor problems and people hand over their credit cards and the patient has to fight the insurance company so it's very lucrative for them. I avoid the ones affiliated with hospitals.
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dannylion
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Post by dannylion on Mar 23, 2014 19:02:42 GMT -5
There are places around here that are sort of a cross between the Doc in a Box and a mini ER. There's one called Nighttime Pediatrics and another called Righttime something, and at least one other, the name of which I cannot remember. Nighttime Pediatrics will see adult patients, so the name is sort of misleading. They were started specifically to provide urgent care outside of regular hours. I've never used one, but some of my friends have, and they were quite happy with the care they received. They are staffed by MDs, PAs, NPs, and the usual assistant roles.
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Mardi Gras Audrey
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Post by Mardi Gras Audrey on Mar 23, 2014 20:37:27 GMT -5
Athena, it can depend on the hospital/med group. I worked at a clinic in TX that was part of the hospital. It was an urgent care clinic and was open 7 days a week from 8am-10pm. The hospital wanted to get people OUT of the ER (Our ER was so flooded it would take 10+ hours to be seen). The rates the clinic charged were significantly lower (I think it was $40-$65 per visit-most of our patients had no insurance). You could get labs/radiology services there (They used the hospital resources) and, of course, those were charged separately.
The thing I really liked was that if the issue was too big for the urgent care clinic, we could easily either take the patient to the ER (they would see all the records/labs that the clinic did) or directly admit the patient to the hospital. We also were able to call specialists in from the hospital to consult and do minimal procedures.
I remember that one issue we had a lot was with patients who were going to apply to Medicaid. They would retro cover an ER visit with 0 copay but wouldn't cover a clinic visit. This resulted in a lot of patients going to the ER for things that weren't emergencies because they didn't want to come up with the $40-$65.
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Sam_2.0
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Post by Sam_2.0 on Mar 24, 2014 9:13:46 GMT -5
CareSpot is a PITA. We've used Walgreen's Take Care Clinic and love it. They call us two to three days later to see if we are feeling better. They keep excellent notes, so when we go back in they know why we were there for the previous visit. Heck, not even my OB does that :/ And since people tend to get sick on the weekends or evenings, it's nice to have that option without going to urgent care or ER. Now that DD is 2 we can take her there if needed also. And we just get our meds right there at the pharmacy so we don't have to make another trip.
One physical exam and one well-woman exam are covered by my insurance every year now. Typically I have the OB fill out the paperwork so I never actually see my GP, but last year I had to go see both. Ava - I would see if your wellness exam was covered by insurance and see if they will re-process it and refund you.
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