A recommendation to minimize costs backfires
The following anecdote is by Alexis Ball, the daughter of a patient from New Mexico. Her story was originally submitted to the 2011 Costs of Care Essay Contest. My mom passed away last December to Stage V breast cancer metastasized to her liver. During this battle she developed ascites (an accumulation of fluid in the peritoneal cavity) as her liver failure progressed. This accumulation of fluid was not only extremely uncomfortable but painful as well. In an attempt to find symptomatic relief for the last months of my mom’s life, the oncologist presented us two options: we could come in to...
Read MoreThe Cost of Apples
The following anecdote is by Samuel Yang, a patient from Maryland. Up until last May, my experience of medical costs was limited to the $100 per month premium I contributed towards my employer-sponsored insurance and the nominal co-pays associated with well-child checkups and generic prescriptions. There was never any hesitation in seeing a doctor or filling a prescription. That all changed when went I back to school. I blindly signed up for the school-recommended family insurance and naïvely assumed myself, my wife, and my two young children would receive whatever health care we needed at...
Read MoreItemized receipt for my health insurance premium
There’s been lots of discussion recently on transparency. Whether that means getting a receipt for the income tax we pay and what it’s used for or providing a price list to consumer/patients for different medical procedures in a geographic region, the buzz of transparency is everywhere. All this talk has gotten me thinking about renewing my auto insurance – Bear with me, I swear health care costs are related. When I asked for a quote, I got to see exactly how much I pay for each point of coverage. Having auto insurance liability coverage is required by law in my state, but for...
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