<p>Yes, my best posts magically disappear.</p>
<p>if you are gonna be un-pc, y’all need to learn the art of making a political post come across as a-political. :)</p>
<p>Bluebayou, is excellent at making a political post look unpolitical. Definitely one of the best.</p>
<p>So far, we just have one winner. I am very disappointed with all of you except for the winner. :)</p>
<p>Ah, so Bluebayou does get to win an award for something.</p>
<p>Dstark, are you going to reveal the winner at midnight each day or what?</p>
<p>I havent decided yet. I will have to communicate with the winner. It wont be midnight. I do sleep. :)</p>
<p>There may be some days where there is nothing too absurd. Absurd posts on purpose arent going to win; although, they may be enjoyable. </p>
<p>This whole contest may get squashed. :)</p>
<p>^^ Not with the estimable and fair-minded dstark presiding. ;)</p>
<p>Lol…</p>
<p><a href=“Private exchange sees surge in health care enrollment”>http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/02/20/fourth-quarter-reports-show-high-insurance-enrollment-in-private-sector/5639725/</a></p>
<p>“They don’t have to pay more for their pre-existing conditions, such as diabetes or being female”.</p>
<p>:)) </p>
<p>Lol</p>
<p>dstark, I saw that article earlier today. What took you so long to link it here? </p>
<p>Wow, the number of enrollments on ehealth insurance went up by 50,000 for the entire country. So we cancelled 6 million policies and ehealth insurance benefited from the misfortune of these subscribers. Glad we could help them out.</p>
<p>I was too busy today. I actually had to use my insurance today for my daughter.
I have read so many horror stories. Maybe you have heard a few? I asked my daughter’s pediatrician if she was having any issues because of ACA? </p>
<p>She looked at me strangely. Like why am I asking this question. She said, “No”.</p>
<p>My daughter was given a prescription for some acne medication. Anthem doesnt cover the medication. It retails for $300 a month.</p>
<p>However…I was given this card. My cost is $25 the first month and the drug’s price drops to $15 a month after a few months. </p>
<p>I dont think Anthem could beat that price. </p>
<p>This is the second drug I have seen recently with a big price, but with a card that discounts the price about 90 percent. </p>
<p>And it is easy to get the cards.</p>
<p>I dont get it. I am not going to pay $300 a month for these drugs. And they are really being sold for $25 a month. I guess the cards can be pulled someday. The second drug is a birth control pill. I think you can get some of these birth control drugs for free or close to free now. </p>
<p>I am not too impressed with the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. I decided to watch it tonight since it is fairly new. I guess I am too old and am not the target audience</p>
<p>Thats it for me. I did not expect to be up so late.</p>
<p>What’s the name of the card? How do you get one? </p>
<p>Although I am glad you were able to get the drug (is it a brand name drug?) for $25, I don’t think it is comforting that an acne drug your daughter’s pediatrician prescribed is not in the formulary. These new formularies could be a big problem for chronically ill people.</p>
<p>I still miss Johnny Carson.</p>
<p>I’m tired too… I just thought I’d point out that a while back an article about a woman who said that she did not have any doctors “in her city” and had a list of 41 doctors, of which only 4 were accepting new patients, and only 1 of the 4 was board certified – somehow was distorted by one poster to mean that Blue Shield had only 41 doctors for all of Alameda County. The news report chose to omit the name of the city or the type of doctor that the woman was looking for (g.p.? family practitioner? Ob-Gyn? dermatologist? – we don’t know) – about the only clue we have is that the nearest doctors were in East Oakland and the patient didn’t want to go there – so we know the patient doesn’t live in Oakland. In any case, that’s rather tortured math – a quick check of Blue Shield’s web site for the new 2014 EPO plans reveals a doctor network consisting of many thousands in Alameda County, including lots of board certified doctors. Blue Shield’s search form defaults to a search within 5 miles of the address given, but it can be narrowed down to 1 mile or expanded out to 15 or 25. </p>
<p>Without those bits of information (city, type of doctor) we really don’t know much at all about the situation. </p>
<p>But Blue Shield has thousands of doctors listed for the EPO plan in Alameda County and a spot check shows that plenty are board certified in their specialties. No way to verify online whether the doctors who are listed as accepting new patients are in fact accepting new patients. No problem for the patient in the article, either, as Blue Shield has apparently agreed to pay for her old doctor.</p>
<p>Here’s an interesting wrinkle – according to the article at <a href=“Covered California Enrollees Complain About Limited Doctor Choices Nearby - CBS San Francisco”>http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2014/02/19/covered-california-enrollees-complain-about-limited-doctor-choices-nearby/</a> - the patient’s former doctor is a member of the Lucille Packard Stanford medical group – which is located in Santa Clara county, not Alameda.</p>
<p>So it looks like the REAL problem was that JT signed up for an EPO, which would not ordinarily include an out-of-county doctor. (unlike a PPO). There’s also a strong possibility that JT was looking for an unusual type of specialist - which would indeed be scarce in Alameda county – but that would depend on which of multiple providers she was seeing at LPCH.</p>
<p>Note this quotation:
</p>
<p>Hmmm. It’s starting to sound like JT’s doctor was in-network all along, but just didn’t know it until someone from Blue Shield pointed out the relevant contractual provision.</p>
<p>I’ve actually heard quite a few anecdotes along these lines: doctors who SAY they aren’t accepting Covered California plans, when in fact it turns out that they are contractually bound to the new networks. I can understand confusion over a new plan – I just don’t understand why it is the exchange’s fault if the doctor gives out misinformation to the patient. </p>
<p>Don’t read it the way you do Calmom. Blue Shield wouldn’t be making an exception for this doctor if she was already in the network. Also, if Ms. Turner is in an EPO, she wouldn’t have the Stanford doctor in her network. </p>
<p>Okay, I looked in my region. In the Blue Shield provider directory, there is only 1 urologist within 25 miles of my zip code. I have never heard of the guy. The nearest cardiac surgeon was over 30 miles away. Never heard of the guy. Also, how do I even know if this provider directory is accurate. I know for a fact a doctor who told me he was mistakenly included in the network in the Blue Shield and Anthem provider directories. </p>
<p>GP, that’s my point: Ms. Turner’s Stanford doctor is in the regular Blue Shield network, but not the Alameda network because it is an EPO. However, when Ms. Turner’s difficulties finding a replacement doctor was reported to Blue Shield, they authorized the out-of-county doctor for her. (Several of the doctors in that particular group practice nuclear medicine, which is a rare specialty and would explain why board certification would be important to her). </p>
<p>What I want to know is whether an absurd post is like a tree in the forest…if you don’t read it, is it there? :)</p>