In the Race
Now, here, you see, it takes all the blogging I can do to keep in the same place.
If I want to get somewhere else, I must blog twice as fast as that!
You see, I'm in
the Red Queen's Race...
Ouch...That Really Hurts
By Janet Evans
Tuesday, Jun 17 2008, 06:45 AM
Drugs cost enough money the way it is.
We’re all feeling the pain when it comes to insurance and medical costs.
You want to believe you are being charged the least possible price for medicines at the drug store.
Here are the latest allegations about Walgreens:
“To save taxpayer dollars, Medicaid limits how much it pays for popular forms of drugs. But it doesn’t bother to set price-ceilings on rarely used versions. Take generic Zantac, or ranitidine, for example. The antacid is a huge seller in tablet form. Medicaid limits payment to 34 cents apiece. The same drug as capsules has no price-ceiling because it was so rarely prescribed. Medicaid pays $1.25 each. Walgreens figured it could pocket millions by switching patients from tablets to capsules.”
Read the story from CBS News ç here
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And another topic...
I don’t know if you’ve ever gotten an insurance Explanation of Benefits (EOB) in the mail after visiting your doctor. Here’s what I’ve found several doctor’s offices have done in the past. They do a procedure in the office and choose a “code” to mail in to insurance. You get the EOB and it states that you had something totally different done.
I’ve had EOBs say I had surgery done at a doctor’s office. Upon calling, the doctor’s office will just say, “That’s just the code we use.” Well, that code allows them to be reimbursed for higher fees. The fact is, I never had a surgical procedure and should not be charged as if I did, and that should be reported to the insurance company. This has happened to me more than once, at different offices. I know other people who have complained of the same thing. It pays to read your doctor bills and compare them to your EOBs.
And we wonder why insurance costs are rising so much.
