Interesting idea to beat crazy health care premiums

[Alex The Great]

Kaiser is a good choice, as long as you do not have any serious illness which can be treated by one specialist and not treated by other: as all we know, doctors are so different and it includes Kaiser. From reading this topic, I got impression that in major populated areas there are less problems with CoveredCA PPO than in rural or remote areas. But I have a different question: did anyone living in SoCal or Texas for example try to go across the border to Mexico for medical treatment? If this works, it might be the other option which does not involve high cost treatment by US doctors, and meantime does not require to move to another country which could be stressful. Then if you manage to stay alive and in one piece (cities near the mexican border may be dangerous) probably you get the best out of two worlds?

 

[audreyh1]

Yes. Now, I read about corn syrup being blamed for a lot, but have not looked into why it is worse than other types of sugar.

It has slightly higher fructose than table sugar, which is why it is called "high fructose corn syrup". Metabolizing fructose is hard on the liver, and in large amounts can contribute to fatty liver disease although that is still under debate. Fructose occurs naturally in fruit which traditionally has been a minor part of the diet.

Refined sugar, called sucrose, is half glucose and half fructose. High-fructose corn syrup is about 55% fructose and 45% glucose.

Abundance of fructose not good for the liver, heart - Harvard Health

 

[NW-Bound]

Does a 5% of composition difference make that much of a difference? I recall reading somewhere that corn syrup is bad mainly because it is so cheap, food makers load up processed food with it.

I try to eat as little sweet as possible. No soda. No OJ or apple juice either, as they are mostly sugar even if it is natural. We eat real fruit.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

I had a dermatologist's receptionist look at my insurance card and tell me they did not take Covered CA.

This was after I'd found the dermatologist's name in the insurer's website and then calling and telling them what insurance I had when I called for the appointment.

At the time of the call, I didn't mention Covered CA. I assumed that I didn't need to since I'd found the doctor's name on the website.

They saw it on the card when I showed up.

The next year we just went with Kaiser. No more problems.

I get that the network lists are not 100% accurate. We've learned to call the providers and double check they accept our exact plan name, not just carrier. As someone who also lives in the Bay Area and has had Blue Shield through Covered California since 2015, like the guy in the article, I remain skeptical of his claim he could not find any in network doctor to treat him for a sinus infection, "But he still doesn't have a permanent doctor because he says he can't get an appointment."

We've always been able to call Blue Shield customer service and ask who is accepting new patients and is in network and never had any issues. I just did that to change GPs a few weeks ago. Plus there have always been urgent care centers in our plan.

 

[xdafly]

We've known several people who winged it and had to pay out of pocket for truly major procedures like quadruple bypass and breast cancer treatment. Total costs including multiple hospital stays and follow up were in the $30-40K range. Not cheap, but add a few zeros to get to U.S. costs.

Just a small correction for US costs. Visit https://surgerycenterok.com/ where the full cash price for bypass is 10,900 cash. All complication(s) costs are included in the upfront posted price. No surprises and no insurance needed or accepted

 

[NW-Bound]

I do not know what the same procedures cost elsewhere, but the quoted prices look pretty good. Other hospitals should have the same "list price" quote like this. Of course, any hospital can justify a higher price than average, if its staff is more acclaimed, the facility more modern, the rooms more comfortable, the nursing staff more attentive, etc...

I do not see some procedures though. I guess it is difficult for a small surgery center like this to cover everything.