There is an old Medicare scam out there that is increasingly a problem. It basically involves calling seniors and offering them something for free. Everyone loves free! Seniors with health issues are especially prone to think more care is better than less. When there are 60 million people on Medicare, it’s bound to attract fraudsters.
Category: News and Events
Pharmacists Should be Able to Dispense More Drugs without a Prescription
At my local Kroger grocery store there is a waiting area next to the pharmacy with a room that says Consultations. The waiting area is rarely used. There is only the occasional person whose prescription is being filled. The consultation room is generally only used for those occasions when a pharmacist administers a vaccine. It’s mostly…
Adding Insult to Injury: Hospitals Charge for Parking, Irritating Patients and Guests
Stat News ran an article on hospital parking. It’s like adding insult to injury. In addition to patient care, hospitals are also in the business of making money off parking lots. People have no other option than to park their cars in hospital-owned lots when visiting a hospital or the medical office buildings nearby. There is even a Reddit group complaining about hospital parking fees. According to Stat News:
Wednesday Links
- Blue Cross say its reforms would save $767B over 10 years. Chief among them: pay the same price for medical care, regardless of where it is delivered. That means a facility can’t bill a higher rate to Medicare, just because it has a link to a hospital.
- To save a child from a rare disease, a one-time injection costs $1.7 million. (NYT) I don’t have a problem with the cost. But who is going to pay for it?
- Should doctors bill for answering patients’ emails? (NYT) I say, yes. Other professionals bill by time. Why should doctors do the same?
- Ten myths About nutrition. Myth No 1: fresh is better than frozen, canned or dried fruits and vegetables. (NYT)
- 3 problems with Covid boosters: (1) the virus is evolving much faster than the vaccines can be updated; (2) vaccines have hard-wired our immune systems to respond to the original Wuhan strain, so we churn out fewer antibodies that neutralize variants targeted by updated vaccines; (3) antibodies rapidly wane after a few months. (WSJ)