Community Chat

[Stray]

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@Drythe wrote:

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@italia8140 wrote:

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@MomCat wrote:

Every single negative thing that has happened since implementation was already predicted.  Successful?  Most people on my planet disagree. 

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 GREAT POST! ITA! Those who think O care is successful are clueless.

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@italia8140

Could you share a source that shows it's failure?  

I am in no way a person to be called 'clueless'!

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I wouldn't say it is a failure for all because some people were helped but $33 million are still uninsured.  So we are a still a nation of haves and have nots.  

[Lila Belle]

Let's get real here about the uninsured..

The reason that there are still uninsured is because of those states with GOP governors or legislators have BLOCKED medicaid expansion.

[gardenman]

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@KathyPet wrote:

Medicare  reimbursement rates are absurdly low.  It is no wonder more and more health practitioners are refusing to participate in the program.  I am going to give you  a actual  real example from September of this year..  My husband spent 10 days in the neuro intensive care unit at UVA Medical Center.  Medicare was billed $165,000 for that 10 day stay and the Medicare approved amount was $26,500. 

Now let's examine what that bill included.  It covered room and board in a intensive care unit where there is one nurse and one certified nursing assistant for every two patients.  It covered his hospital supplies and his drugs from the hospital pharmacy.  Believe me there were a lot of drugs and some of them were very expensive.  It also included running lab tests like blood and urine tests.  It did not cover charges from the doctors who treated him and charges from the radiology dept for MRI's CAT scans, chest X rays etc as those are billed separately.  So the hospital was paid $2600 a day or a little over $100.00 a hour for the cost of his room, the food he ate, skilled nursing care, his drugs and lab charges.  I consider that absurdly low.

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See, this is where we differ. I tend to think $108.33 an hour is still a pretty fair price. ICU nurses have a median salary of around $68,000 a year which for a typical 36 hour work week (3 twelve hour shifts) working 52 weeks a year comes out to less than $37 per hour. That leaves around $72 per hour for the rest. About the most expensive drug out there these days is the new Hep C drugs and they're $1,000 a day which would come down to $41 an hour and I doubt that he was getting that in the neuro ICU. Most routine lab tests aren't terribly expensive and you're generally not getting one every hour.

A price of $108.33 an hour isn't absurdly low when you look at the real world numbers. When you compare it to the $165,000/$687.50 that was originally billed it may look that way, but in the real world, away from grossly inflated bills, it's a pretty darn good number. Medicare knows what they're doing and they cover the costs and allow a fair profit. You may think that an extra $138,500 every ten days would be more fair, but it's not more fair to the taxpayers. 

[151949]

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@gardenman wrote:

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@KathyPet wrote:

Medicare  reimbursement rates are absurdly low.  It is no wonder more and more health practitioners are refusing to participate in the program.  I am going to give you  a actual  real example from September of this year..  My husband spent 10 days in the neuro intensive care unit at UVA Medical Center.  Medicare was billed $165,000 for that 10 day stay and the Medicare approved amount was $26,500. 

Now let's examine what that bill included.  It covered room and board in a intensive care unit where there is one nurse and one certified nursing assistant for every two patients.  It covered his hospital supplies and his drugs from the hospital pharmacy.  Believe me there were a lot of drugs and some of them were very expensive.  It also included running lab tests like blood and urine tests.  It did not cover charges from the doctors who treated him and charges from the radiology dept for MRI's CAT scans, chest X rays etc as those are billed separately.  So the hospital was paid $2600 a day or a little over $100.00 a hour for the cost of his room, the food he ate, skilled nursing care, his drugs and lab charges.  I consider that absurdly low.

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See, this is where we differ. I tend to think $108.33 an hour is still a pretty fair price. ICU nurses have a median salary of around $68,000 a year which for a typical 36 hour work week (3 twelve hour shifts) working 52 weeks a year comes out to less than $37 per hour. That leaves around $72 per hour for the rest. About the most expensive drug out there these days is the new Hep C drugs and they're $1,000 a day which would come down to $41 an hour and I doubt that he was getting that in the neuro ICU. Most routine lab tests aren't terribly expensive and you're generally not getting one every hour.

A price of $108.33 an hour isn't absurdly low when you look at the real world numbers. When you compare it to the $165,000/$687.50 that was originally billed it may look that way, but in the real world, away from grossly inflated bills, it's a pretty darn good number. Medicare knows what they're doing and they cover the costs and allow a fair profit. You may think that an extra $138,500 every ten days would be more fair, but it's not more fair to the taxpayers. 

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And staffing is one RN for every 2 or 3 patients - depending on staffing and how ill their patients are.And , if there is a nurse aide at all in ICU - usually they do not have aides in ICUs -then it is one aide for the entire unit - not one for every 2 patients.  Where I worked we had an "equipment aide" whose only job was to care for, clean and fetch equipment for the nurses. No other aides to assist with patient care - that was all RN staff and we generally had 3 patients unless one was very ill , and then we had 2.

[KathyPet]

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@gardenman wrote:

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@KathyPet wrote:

Medicare  reimbursement rates are absurdly low.  It is no wonder more and more health practitioners are refusing to participate in the program.  I am going to give you  a actual  real example from September of this year..  My husband spent 10 days in the neuro intensive care unit at UVA Medical Center.  Medicare was billed $165,000 for that 10 day stay and the Medicare approved amount was $26,500. 

Now let's examine what that bill included.  It covered room and board in a intensive care unit where there is one nurse and one certified nursing assistant for every two patients.  It covered his hospital supplies and his drugs from the hospital pharmacy.  Believe me there were a lot of drugs and some of them were very expensive.  It also included running lab tests like blood and urine tests.  It did not cover charges from the doctors who treated him and charges from the radiology dept for MRI's CAT scans, chest X rays etc as those are billed separately.  So the hospital was paid $2600 a day or a little over $100.00 a hour for the cost of his room, the food he ate, skilled nursing care, his drugs and lab charges.  I consider that absurdly low.

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See, this is where we differ. I tend to think $108.33 an hour is still a pretty fair price. ICU nurses have a median salary of around $68,000 a year which for a typical 36 hour work week (3 twelve hour shifts) working 52 weeks a year comes out to less than $37 per hour. That leaves around $72 per hour for the rest. About the most expensive drug out there these days is the new Hep C drugs and they're $1,000 a day which would come down to $41 an hour and I doubt that he was getting that in the neuro ICU. Most routine lab tests aren't terribly expensive and you're generally not getting one every hour.

A price of $108.33 an hour isn't absurdly low when you look at the real world numbers. When you compare it to the $165,000/$687.50 that was originally billed it may look that way, but in the real world, away from grossly inflated bills, it's a pretty darn good number. Medicare knows what they're doing and they cover the costs and allow a fair profit. You may think that an extra $138,500 every ten days would be more fair, but it's not more fair to the taxpayers. 

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You are not taking into consideration all the remaining support staff such as a managing nurse that oversees the unit, a case care worker who helps set up follow up services such as entrance to a skilled nursing facility, medical transport if needed and all other support services and staff such as janitors, food service etc laundry services etc. that are needed to make a hospital run not to mention utilities and other overhead costs.

[KathyPet]

What your staffing was in the ICU and what UVA's staffing is obviously differ.  I was there with my husband every day all day and there was a nursing assistant  for every two patients.  They performed many more activities then what you indicate.

[italia8140]

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@terrier3 wrote:

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@italia8140 wrote:

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@MomCat wrote:

Every single negative thing that has happened since implementation was already predicted.  Successful?  Most people on my planet disagree. 

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 GREAT POST! ITA! Those who think O care is successful are clueless.

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What makes it unsuccessful?

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READ POST # 56.

[italia8140]

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@JustJazzmom wrote:

You're entitled to your opinion but not entitled to your own facts.

Go find a reliable source for us so we can all be 'clued in'.

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READ POST # 56.

[Chrystaltree2]

They are "considering" it and even if it does happen; it won't be until 2017.  I heard the story on tv and part of the problem is that enrollees are allowed to opt in and opt out of a plan at wiil.  That puts an enormous strain on insurers.  I'm sure there will discussions, negotiations etc. 

[hoosieroriginal]

It's all about the money.  Think of all of those people who are going to have to re-enroll and find another carrier, fighting with them to pay current claims, etc.  Hate insurance companies!!!!!