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- When the progressives were really in power: Bob Graboyes on the eugenics movement.
- Site-neutral reforms could reduce federal spending by up to $279 billion, patient costs by $137 billion in Medicare and up to $466 billion in the private sector, and national health expenditures by up to $672 billion.
- More bad news on woke medical schools.
Category: Single-Payer/Medicare-for-All
The High Cost of Poor Mental Health
There is a growing mental health crisis today. Numerous people report being depressed or anxious due to Covid and its aftermath. As the Texas mall shooting illustrates there is a lot of untreated mental illness in the United States. Indeed visits to the emergency rooms (ER) for mental health problems are on the rise. A mental health issue such as a panic attack can mimic other problems. I met a cab driver who said he went to the ER for a heart attack but it turned out to be a panic attack. Purportedly, hundreds of thousands of Medicaid patients seek treatment in emergency rooms for mental health.
Little Effort Goes into Estate Recovery for Medicaid Long Term Care
A few years ago I was visiting a friend and noticed the house beside him looked different. It had been vacant but was now occupied. I asked if he had a new neighbor? He told me his neighbor, an elderly man, had gone into a nursing home and passed away after a lengthy stay. The man’s son inherited his father’s house and moved in. About that same time another friend mentioned his grandfather’s health had declined to the point where he had to be moved into a nursing home until his death.
In both instances the families were not well off. Probably the only major asset each had was their home. In both cases the homes passed to heirs upon the death of their owners, who died in nursing homes paid for by taxpayers.
Why a Telephone Consult is Billed as a Hospital Visit
I have often told the story about the time my wife unknowingly tried to schedule a CT scan at a nearby hospital outpatient department. As luck would have it, prior authorization is all that saved us from a huge bill, of which her share was going to be $2,700. I quickly found a free-standing radiology clinic that had a contract with Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) of Texas for $403. Oddly enough, BCBS was willing to approve a scan at either facility. Nobody called her to explain the huge mistake she was about to make by getting a diagnostic scan at a hospital-owned facility. Here is the thing: Health insurers, Medicare and Medicaid pay hospitals higher prices for the same services that are available elsewhere for a fraction of the cost. Neither do payers alert patients that cheaper alternatives exist.