Drug stores such as CVS and Walgreens and large outlets that sell drugs, like Walmart and Target have founded express clinics, designed specifically to help you with those pesky but serious ailments.* Right now 300 “mini-clinics” exist in several states. More than 4,000 will likely exist in the next few years. A quick and relatively inexpensive alternative to the doctor’s office, these clinics offer nurse practitioners to manage your care. The growing shortage of family doctors has helped spawn this popular alternative. The nurse practitioners are supervised by a physician and are quick to send people with ailments requiring sophisticated treatment on to the hospital or their physician. All prices are posted, no appointment is required and most mini-clinics are open 7 days per week.

One of the largest of these chain treatment centers, MinuteClinic, has 162 clinics in 19 states and will expand to 300 this year. Walgreens’ Take Care clinic offers exam rooms just like the doctor’s office. While physicians are concerned that the care be high quality, they support the basic concept according to an article in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Mini-clinics can perform some routine tests and screenings, give shots, and write prescriptions. They can treat strep throat, colds, coughs, fever, flu, vomiting, bronchitis, allergies, ear and eye infections, urinary tract infections, minor injuries such as sprains, and skin conditions like cold sores, sunburn, athlete’s foot and poison ivy. They can not treat chest pains, major burns, deep lacerations, chronic conditions, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, asthma or high cholesterol, nor can they set broken bones.

As an example, in the mini-clinic strep throat treatment will cost on average $59. Compare this to an emergency room charge of $328; urgent care charge of $130 or primary care charge of $100-$132.00. Many health insurance plans will cover the cost.

*Healthbolt.net is not affiliated with any of the companies mentioned in this post.

Post from: Healthbolt

I was told yesterday that the governor, Chris Gregoire, doesn’t want the emergency clause in the bill that would raise the cap on WSHIP to a lifetime max of $2 million from $1 million.Of course, without the emergency clause, the change in the law won’t help me, since my health insurance through WSHIP is going to max out in about September or October, leaving me to face $300,000 a year in bills for my cancer treatment.Pretty cold. And the governor herself is a breast cancer survivor. You’d think she’d have more empathy. Of course, SHE has health insurance, as do all state employees. And we, the taxpayers, pay for it.

I called the gov’s office for a comment, and Kristin Jacobsen called me back. Jacobsen’s response to my question: “She hasn’t weighed in on that yet.”

Translation: The governor is not ready to go public with her position. Until she does, I think the information I was given is accurate, and I’ll keep the question mark on the headline to this story for now.

The governor does not want an emergency clause in the legislation to raise the cap on WSHIP to $2 million. It is the emergency clause that would make the change effective immediately once she signs the bill.

Don’t know what I’m talking about? Watch the KING-5 TV News interview, March 2, 2007

Woman battling cancer fights for insurance reform
@ Jeanne Sather 2007.

Technorati Tags: Chris Gregoire, governor, health insurance, WSHIP

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Post from: Healthbolt

Photo: lovemetwee

Hospitals (in most cases) are not unreasonable. They’d much rather bargain with you than the alternative.

Think about it from their point of view: Hospitals are between a rock and a hard place when it comes to collections. The gov’t pays peanuts and the insurance companies are no more interested in giving hospitals their due than they’re interested in lowering your rates. Bankruptcy is at an all time high in this country, one of the driving forces of which is medical bills. Also keep in mind that collection agencies usually take 25% or more for their services.

Realizing all of this, keep your hospital in the loop if you owe them a wad of cash but are coming up short. Let them know what’s going on and what you can realistically pay; you may find them more accommodating than you think.

Post from: Healthbolt

MDVIP is kind of a health country club. It’s not an HMO or PPO. Their website reminds me more of Diner’s Club or something than a health care plan. Basically, they’re trying to save health care from the terrible mess of litigation-fueled red tape and bureaucracy it’s become for patients and physicians, for an (undisclosed, at least online) price. A noble and lucrative cause, to be sure.
It seems like a good plan. You sign-up and pay your yearly dues, and in exchange you receive personalized (MDVIP physicians have only 600 patients per practice), prevention-focused health care that works with insurance and Medicare. I really like their emphasis on preventive health care.

All MDVIP services are compatible with FSA’s (Flex Spending Accounts), which is a great tax dodge. It also comes with personalized service perks like a medical history mini-CD to carry in your wallet/purse, quick access to your MDVIP doctor in emergencies, your own “personal MDVIP website” and an “executive physical”, which includes, but is not limited to:

• an extensive risk factor assessment that incorporates family history, patient history and lifestyle analysis
• screenings related to mental status
• screenings related to exercise, nutrition and sleep
• screenings related to vision and hearing
• pulmonary function testing
• comprehensive laboratory testing
• EKG

I think programs like this are great for people that can afford them. It’s also good for Doctors who’ve been systematically locked into a system that has them spending more time navigating regulations and lawyers than honing their bedside manner and diagnostic skills.

I’m all for something like this, except… What’s it cost? I can’t even get a ball-park figure of their annual fee off their site. But I’ll bet it’s not cheap for the customer, er, patient, and I’m sure it’s a boon for the doctors who can find 600 MDVIP patients within their operating area.

MDVIP is an organization that charges a premium for premium health care. Not a bad idea if you’re the kind of mercenary doctor it’s perfectly within your rights to be. Or if you’re a patient with the kind of pockets to fund this thing. (Hey if I could afford it, I would consider it, except the closest MDVIP to me is in St. Louis, which is 5 hours away from Kansas City.)

I filled out their “we’ll get back to you” style contact form to save you guys the trouble of an unwanted sales call just to get pricing. They called me a few hours later. Their yearly fee ranges from $1500-$1800 and set by the doctor in their network you sign up with. Honestly, it’s not as much as I thought it would be, but it still would have been nice had they listed that range on the site.

If anyone has any sort of experience working with or paying for one of these programs, let us know about it.

Post from: Healthbolt

I can see how this could be construed as crass by some people (who suck and are lame), but as long as the employees get coverage, who cares? And if the company sells more t-shirts because of it, all the better for the employee and their benefits package.

via Design fckr

Post from: Healthbolt

Max Lewis, a practicing Missouri lawyer, is paralyzed from the neck-down. He can’t afford to pay his staggering medical and daily care expenses, so he works pro bono to squeak under the $695/month Medicaid qualification income limit.

Lewis is paralyzed from the neck down, with limited use of his arms. To prepare food, bathe, or get in or out of bed, he needs help from personal care assistants. Six hours of daily assistance costs Lewis nearly $17,000 per year. Health insurance companies don’t cover that expense or the cost of much of the medical treatment related to Lewis’ disability. Medicaid does. So Lewis finds himself in a paradox: Financially, his best bet is to live in poverty.

Whether you think he’s abusing the system or the other way around, it’s a compelling story.

Legally Bound – Columbia Missourian

Post from: Healthbolt

I compulsively eat bits of myself when I shed them. How bad is this for me?

Is it safe to live directly underneath a large number of radio and/or cell towers?

I like the taste of butter. I grew up with margarine as the “healthier” substitute, then switched to various spreads, then back. What provides the healthiest butter or butter analog?

Have any tips for living (in the US) without health insurance?

Is the way I use headphones bad for my ears?

Post from: Healthbolt

I’m getting a root canal this morning.

Gross.

The words “root canal” alone are enough to make most people wince and utter some sort of foreboding noise. Usually a long low, “Ooooo.”

Well, in about an hour yours truly will be in the midst of it. It’ll be the third in my life, which, I guess, takes some of the sting out of the whole process. But then there’s the fact that I’m a panic-stricken-baby in the dental chair that will add all of that sting right back into it. But to be perfectly honest, thinking about it for the days beforehand and then writing about it here, is much worse than the actual process. There isn’t a needle or a drill in the UMKC Dental School clinic that can match my vivid imagination.

Yes, I’m having the work done at a clinic. This is for many reasons. It softens the financial blow considerably, and my wife is a dental student at UMKC. She’s graduating this semester, so we’re trying to shoe-horn in as many of my procedures as we can before she graduates. Sounds like fun, eh? Well it’s not, but it is for the greater good of our family unit. I need the work done anyway, she needs the credits and the care at the clinic is top notch. That’s right: It’s top notch.

I think most normal people would be nervous about receiving dental care from a student, but, honestly, they have so many dentists checking and rechecking their work as they go, it’s some of the best care you can receive anywhere. It does take about twice as long (if not longer) than your average dental appointment, but it’s cheaper and it’s quality. Dental school clinics (at least the UMKC clinic) deliver excellent care at about half the cost in exchange for a little of your time.

If you’re strapped for cash (Who isn’t this time of year?) and have been putting off a dental visit because of that, then stop procrastinating and find a local dental school ASAP; the longer you wait the more expensive and time consuming your treatment is becoming…

Post from: Healthbolt

If you give Bioden, Inc. ~$600 + $90 a year, they’ll keep your child’s baby teeth in an indefinite cryogenic deep freeze. It’s like the tooth fairy who brings an amount due instead of the shiny stuff.
From the company’s website:

Bioeden, Inc. is proud to be the first company in the world to offer parents the opportunity to preserve potentially life-saving stem cells that would otherwise be thrown away.

In 2003, Dr. Songtao Shi, a pediatric dentist at the NIH, discovered that discarded baby teeth are an excellent new source of stem cells. Stem cell research is the most promising path to curing many severe diseases and disabling medical conditions. It may yield remedies for such conditions as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases, juvenile diabetes, spinal cord injury, MS, ALS, and certain forms of cancer and heart disease. At Bioeden, we believe that every parent should have the opportunity make sure that their children benefit from this promising research. We have provided a convenient and affordable solution to preserving your children’s tooth cells.

I don’t consider $700/year convenient or affordable. Papa John’s is convenient and affordable. This is a costly “insurance” you may never even need to use, or worse, it could never come to fruition at all even if you do need it. Has anyone out there heard anything else about this? Am I missing something or is this similar to freezing your body with your fingers crossed.
Bioden, Inc.

[tags] stem, cell, research [/tags]

Post from: Healthbolt

The most compelling reason not to drive drunk is obvious; you don’t want to become a killer. Drunk drivers contributed to the deaths of more than 16,000 Americans last year.

An additional reason is the price tag that accompanies that DUI charge. If you’re impressed with that $125 bottle of pricey scotch, consider this: a DUI costs on the average $10,000 after you pay bail, various fines, insurance increases and incidentals such as towing, alcohol evaluation and alcohol education, and that’s if you don’t kill or injure anybody, and if it’s your first charge.

Average charges for a first DUI offense, which vary from state to state:

• $150-$2500 Bail
• $100 – $1200 Towing
• $1500 High-risk insurance (the only kind you’ll be able to get) additional premiums
• $500 – $25,000 Legal fees, depending on whether you want to dispute the charge
• $300 – $1200 Fines and Court Fees
• $181 Alcohol evaluation
• $350-$2,000 Alcohol Education, basic treatment
• $300 Ignition Lock Breath Tester

A myriad of additional fees exist, depending on the state. Additional lasting effects include an increase in your life insurance premium; lost money for lost work time; in some cases, you lose your license, then you lose your job; drunks aren’t welcomed in the cock pit or in most medical fields; you also rate a criminal record, which most potential employers can find. Oh, and the shame factor for being the drunk guy runs high and lasts long.

The moral of this story? Don’t drink, or hire a designated driver if you need to. Whatever he charges, it will be a bargain.

[tags] drunk, driving, cost, money [/tags]

Post from: Healthbolt