“Effective April 16, Walgreens drugstores across the state won’t take any new Medicaid patients, saying that filling their prescriptions is a money-losing proposition — the latest development in an ongoing dispute over Medicaid reimbursement.”[/quote]
Funny you should mention this. My primary care physician says that he is no longer offering vaccines/flu shots/etc unless his patients pay out of pocket.
Last time I went get a typhoid/tenanus/etc.
He basically said that it costs him more to purchase the vaccines/shots/etc than insurance co’s are willing to reimburse him for them…So he tells me that I pay out of pocket and can go seek reimbursement from my own insurance co myself.
He also stopped taking new patients and physical exams are now scheduled 6 months out. Basically he use to give physicals to folks at the same time that they came in for regular checkups…Except insurance co’s didn’t like that and didn’t allow him to bill for the physical. He was eating the costs himself for awhile…
Looks like applying for Taiwanese citizenship and getting medical care overseas might be a reality moving forward 🙁
I was hoping this legislation would actually allow folks to “save” for medical expenses.
Slightly slanted question…
Also, now that everyone is expected to have medical insurance or pay a fine each year. So I guess this is somewhat good news for hospitals in dealing with uninsured folks, since to some extent folks now have medical coverage (I would asume)…However, while this rule applies to U.S. citizens and I guess folks with P.R., what does this do with folks that are not here legally? Obviously they aren’t part of this plan. Do hospitals continue to provide non-legal residence free medical care? Just curious. Does anyone else have data about the percentage of uninsured that would now be insurable versus the percentage of folks that these new changes don’t apply to?
