Tag Archives: health-care-policy

How much does that ambulance ride cost??

Frugal Nurse Posted on by

ambulance rideAn ambulance ride is often a hidden (and costly) expense

Kaiser Health News just published an article about patients being stuck with outrageously high bills for ambulance rides.

One patient got a $3,660 bill for a 4-mile ride. Another was charged $8,460 for a trip from one hospital that could not handle his case to another that could.

Several years ago when my husband ended up in an emergency room … read on

Why do prescription drugs cost so much?

Frugal Nurse Posted on by

Higher drug prices = higher health costs

Soon we’ll be finding out how much our health insurance will cost next year. Premiums are set to rise by double digits across the country.

Related post: Premium increases for 2018. Ouch

While uncertainty about the future of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is partly responsible, insurance companies put the biggest blame on the skyrocketing cost of prescription drugs.

Why are prescription … read on

Is health care a right or a privilege?

Frugal Nurse Posted on by

The health care debate rages on.

Atul Gawande, one of my favorite physician-authors, wrote an article on this topic last week in The New Yorker magazine.

He spoke to residents in his home state of Ohio and posed the question, “Is health care a right or a privilege?” He listened to their stories of unexpected illness, lost jobs and medical bankruptcy. Yet none of them thought their health insurance should … read on

PSAPs and the OTC Hearing Aid Act

Frugal Nurse Posted on by

psapWhat are PSAPs?

PSAP stands for Personal Sound Amplification Product.

They are available at Target or Walmart or Amazon for a fraction of the price of a traditional physician-prescribed hearing aid.

BUT…they can’t actually be called hearing aids and they can’t be marketed as a treatment for hearing loss. That’s because they are currently not regulated as medical devices by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).… read on

ZDoggMD and Healthcare 3.0

Frugal Nurse Posted on by

“Trying to make medicine great again”

I’ve been a fan of Zubin Damania, MD—aka ZDoggMD—for several years. A hospitalist physician based in Las Vegas, he began by making entertaining parody videos on a variety of healthcare topics: end-of-life, the opioid epidemic, electronic health records (EHR), sepsis, sleep apnea, and more.

Now he has expanded his social media footprint in an attempt to rally healthcare professionals behind Healthcare 3.0.… read on

Tips to save money at the hospital

Frugal Nurse Posted on by

tips to save money at the hospital“An American Sickness”

I love Elisabeth Rosenthal’s work.

She’s a medical journalist (an MD, but no longer practicing) who wrote a brilliant series of articles on the high cost of healthcare for the New York Times a few years ago.

Now she has a book on the same topic. Because, of course, our healthcare system with its punishing costs for services, drugs and insurance has not improved. If anything, it’s … read on

We’re doing too many screening and diagnostic tests

Frugal Nurse Posted on by

More tests = more money

Anyone who has read my blog over the years knows this is a subject I come back to again and again: the overuse of screening and diagnostic tests.

It’s a problem in our healthcare system for a couple of reasons.

First, the majority of healthcare providers are paid based on volume. In other words, the more patients they see, the more tests they run, the … read on

Budget-busting prescription drugs

Frugal Nurse Posted on by

Taxpayers footing the bill

I watched this on my local news the other night: Runaway drug price hikes squeeze Washington’s budget.

Our state is one that expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), so I knew we were spending a lot. But I had no idea now much. Through the first 9 months of 2016, my state has spent $1.1 billion on prescription drugs.

Not total medical care. … read on

Choosing Wisely – Use less healthcare

Frugal Nurse Posted on by

My goal for 2017? Use as little healthcare as possible

How will healthcare change under a new president and political party?

That’s a question I can’t answer. As I wrote in my last post, both candidates had multiple-point plans to tweak/improve/repeal/replace the Affordable Care Act, aka the ACA or Obamacare.

But I don’t know what will change or when.

What I know for sure is that for 2017 my … read on

Election day and healthcare 2016

Frugal Nurse Posted on by

american-flagI started this blog four years ago, the day after President Obama won the general election. I needed an instrument to give voice to my frustrations and fears about the direction of our country’s health and healthcare policy.

I just re-read what I wrote back then:

So, the Affordable Care Act (ACA or Obamacare, as it’s commonly known), having survived its precipitous birth and a few close-calls with death, is

… read on