HSA hidden fees with hospital clinics

My insurance from my employer changed this year.  I went from standard insurance to and HSA, or health savings account.  These plans offer the insured to save pre-tax money toward medical expenses.  There is no co-pay when you see a medical provider, but rather the costs are run through the insurance company's fee schedule and reduced according to what they would normally pay.  Then this is the amount the insured pays.

So, I went to a dermatologist (whom I had seen before when I had traditional insurance with a $20.00 co-pay) to get some of my fair Irish skin treated and the doctor happened to be associated with a hospital, MetroHealth, in Cleveland, Ohio.  Her office was in a building across the street from the hospital.  I was her office for 15 minutes tops.  I received a bill from her for $120.07.  No problem with that.  Then I received a bill from the hospital for facility services, apparently because they own the building and it was in a treatment room in their building (looked like an ordinary patient exam room seen in any other doctor's office), for $324.00!

The reason I went to this dermatologist again was that she was listed as an in-network provider by my insurance company, Anthem, and she seemed like a good physician.  There was no indication from Anthem, on their website listing providers, that there would be an additional fee for seeing a physician who is in a clinic near a hospital.  There was no indication at the doctor's office that there would be additional charges.  Since I had traditional insurance coverage the first time I saw this doctor, there was no way I could have known if my insurance company was paying a higher fee.  This is a hidden fee, and people with HSA's should be aware of it.

If you have an HSA account, I caution you to check with any doctor associated with a hospital, whether there will be additional facility charges prior to making an appointment.

Inspiration from 2 documentaries

I happened to pick up "American Drug War" from the library the other day.  It is a documentary on the cause and effect of licit and illicit drugs in American society.  There is excellent insight into the funding of the drug problem in the US and how crack became so big with the help of certain CIA connections.  Sure, you could say it is a conspiracy theory, but if we can track a package of mail ordered socks from one end of the country, we can sure detect every drug coming in from outside the country.  Otherwise, someone would have smuggled more bomb making materials into the US and used them by now.  I sincerely believe we allow a certain amount of drugs in by looking the other way and taking a cut.  Somebody is making some money somewhere.  Most likely the feds.  It is in their best interest to keep people drugged and dumbed down and/or in prison so there are fewer people to interfere with their agenda.  The prison system in the US is a huge money maker that feeds the upper class and government.  The fastest growing drug of abuse besides marijuana and alcohol, is prescription drugs... in particular, opioids.  The number one prescribed drug in the US is hydrocodone with acetaminophen (generic Vicodin).  Basically it is a pain killer that can be found on any corner and almost every bathroom medicine cabinet.

The other movie I saw was "Waiting for Superman" which is about the failure of the US school system.  Simply put, we are looking at dumbing down people to maintain status quo.  There is too much money to be made by making people working class and scraping by, so they can't get the free time or energy to take on the system.  Plus, many (is not most) of the kids who drop out get involved in the drug trade as users or suppliers, and then feed the aforementioned correctional complex.  Most teachers are overwhelmed and have no time or inclination to learn how to do a better job.  They get comfortable and do just enough to get by until tenure kicks in and then they are set till retirement.

So the comparison of the two films shows how the greed for money and power, fuels both situations.  The government isn't going to stop drugs from being made readily available to anyone who wants them, so they can stay in a stupor, and then busts enough to fill the prisons till they are bursting.  The feds also don't want educators to get any better at their job, lest they produce someone smart enough to realize they are being had.  And one by one, as they drop out of school and become criminals or lead an unfulfilling life, they go to the corner dealer, corner liquor store, or just walk into the bathroom and open the medicine cabinet and get a drug to sooth them because fighting back against the greedy power mongers takes too much effort.  We have never made them work hard before, so we know they don't stand a chance to muster up the energy to get politically involved much less march on Washington.

Starting today

So... the journey of a thousand words starts with the first... syllable??  Huh?

Well, so much for that.  I just need to get some more reality in my life and hopefully it will spill over into anyone's life who reads this.

Disclaimer: I wasn't an English or writing major, so typos and grammar are excused.  They are actually the real deal anyway.  It is who I am... a part-time perfectionist.  Hopefully never going full-time.  I just don't know where I would find the time to be perfect.

So, I am first and foremost a person who is in recovery from alcohol and drug abuse.  In order to keep it real and not hide behind the secrets, I need to share that.  It really helps me keep everything in perspective.

I am also a pharmacist, a lawyer, a social worker and a drug counselor.  All of these professions work in concert. as most people with drug or alcohol problems have had legal involvement, and many have pharmacology questions as they begin the recovery process.

My blog will focus on substance abuse treatment as it encompasses biological/pharmacological and legal/incarceration concerns.  I will address everything from new drugs of abuse, chemical dependency treatment models (including the use of pharmacological agents) to the legal ramifications of substance abuse and the interaction of punishment vs. treatment.

So that is my intro and first step/syllable...  feel free to comment and... above all... keep it real...