From my wife's shrink: "Dear Patient, I will no longer be a Medicare provider" (vanity)

My wife's shrink | November 28, 2012 | Seizethecarp (vanity)

[Seizethecarp]

Dear Patient,

Going into the coming year, I have made a difficult but necessary determination that I will no longer be a Medicare provider. This will go into effect as of January 1, 2013. My decision is directly related to the continuing Medicare cuts and cumbersome requirements that Medicare has put into place. Regretfully, it is no longer feasible for us to participate with Medicare.

[Seizethecarp]

It does help that I love my wife a whole lot and that she loves me, at least when she is back to normal! It has been a deep privilege to have been able to have been there for her, and she is now able to show her appreciation. During her last manic/psychotic episode she wanted to divorce me for calling the “guys in the white jackets” (EMTs) to take her away. But now she has thanked me! (again)

[EDINVA]

How wonderful that your wife was able to be restored to sanity, and with what turns out to be perfect timing. I would hope that there is a way you can obtain the ‘old drug’ through another doctor or clinic. Would it be feasible to stay a non-medicare patient of this doctor with only a visit every other or every third month, so that the cost wouldn’t be unbearable, but it would allow him to prescribe the drug for her?

Best wishes in getting through this, you’ve already come so far1

[Seizethecarp]

Fortunately, if she remains stable (fingers crossed) and only needs medication maintenance, we will be able to pay for his services outside of Medicare if it is only for a handful of appointments per year instead of near weekly appointments.

[Vince Ferrer]

Good luck to you and your wife. I have experience n my family with mental illness and dementia, and I know how much of a burden it is on the healthy members. This will hit us all in a number of ways.

[iowamark]

My condolences. I hope that you can manage to get your wife the care she needs.

[onyx]

I’m so sorry. My husband is a retired M.D. of 7 years, (practice in psychiatry) and medicare, its cumbersome requirements and tons of paperwork were killing him back then. He treated several patients for free rather than endure all that nuisance and charged a very minimum to others.

[GeronL]

This is going to be the effect of ObamaCare

The New Normal

The personality cult will demand you be grateful for the chance to take a cut for them

[Albion Wilde]

Bless you both. What an ordeal.

The best thing you can do going forward is to optimize her physical health and fitness. Her diet should be mostly fresh or steamed vegetables, fruits and lean meat without cheese or sauces. Cut out pasta and bread, especially high gluten products, junk food, and sugar, as well as artificial sweeteners like aspartame, nutrasweet, and especially high fructose corn syrup, which are found in most processed foods (read all labels).

Fish oil capsules do wonders, as does regular exercise, like a walking or yoga program that meets at least twice a week, and if possible four or five times. Cut out any smoking, drinking, any drugs that aren’t medically necessary (even aspirin can upset some people) and make sure she gets her thyroid and Vitamin D levels checked thoroughly and frequently.

If she is presently off-kilter in any of these areas, even small improvements can help, and getting into normal range can be miraculous.

[semantic]

You're right-on-the-money, but you left out a few additional considerations. One aspect is that the fed.gov will have to enact capital controls so that patients with savings will not be able to access care in a foreign country. Another is mandated care from doctors, along with actual, hard price controls & rationing, so that no one can escape the system.

Take those two factors together, and the 55+ crowd has one of two options:
(1) start getting healthy by eating right & exercising like hell as if your very life depended on it - because it does; or
(2) check into one of the emerging SOMA facilities where (legal) opiates will be administered to while away the days.

No one has ever suggested the end of a Republic would be anything short of nasty & brutish.

[Chickensoup]

Have you talked to the doc to see about private pay?

[Marcella]

This past spring the large clinic where my doctor was (had him for 16 yrs), filed for bankruptcy and the over 50 doctors had to leave. That big clinic had been in business for 50 years. My doctor went to a building close to that one and I thought it would be okay. Then, I got a letter from his office that he was now with a concierge medical group and to see him I had to give that group $1,650 just to go in his office. That was a yearly charge. My doctor had dumped me and the rest of his patients.

So, I had no doctor that very day. Called a friend, got the name of her doctor, called that office, and everything went fine until she asked me about insurance. Said I had Medicare and a supplement - she said they didn't take Medicare. I still had no doctor.

Called a doctor friend and he gave me the name of a doctor he would go to. Called that office, and thank God, they took Medicare. I finally had a doctor and went to him and he had also been with the clinic that closed and was able to call up my records on his computer. I am happy with this doctor and we did blood tests, etc., to see where I was with my blood numbers which needed to be done. My medicines were all switched to his name so I could refill medicines. He and I got it done.

Several weeks went by, AND THEN I GOT ANOTHER LETTER:
The doctor that dumped me sent a letter to his old patients saying he missed his relationship with his old patients and had left the concierge group and we could have an appointment any time and he was sorry if this had caused us any inconvenience. CAUSED ME INCONVENIENCE?!

Evidently, his old patients, including me, didn't pay the $1,650 and he didn't have any patients or enough of them to stay with that fancy group.

That's like your boy friend dumping you for another girl, then coming back and saying he likes you better.

I did not go back to him after the mega mess he put me through. I'm afraid he would do that again and he can go pound sand.

[GeronL]

Soma for all.... Brave New World

[KYGrandma]

This last week we have been waiting for some prescriptions to be filled. No problem with insurer, but with availability. The drug shortage has started. I haven’t had an anti-depressant that I take to help me sleep. The nightmares have been terrible.

[steve86]

I hope no one reading your comment with a family member experiencing psychosis is going with those suggestions rather than seeking proper treatment. Sure, take a walk around the block, do yoga and eat all the vegetables you want -- after a professional assesses and stabilizes the situation.

[Marcella]

“The drug shortage has started.”

Yes, it has. I had two that took a few days to get, but then I had one they couldn’t get FOR A MONTH. It wasn’t critical and I had extras, but the fact Walgreens can’t get a medicine for a month is significant.

[Albion Wilde]

What I mean is, if the patient is going to have to experience a cutback in psych services, she should step up her other areas of health to the maximum while still getting whatever reduced mental health services she can get.

Also, there are many physical symptoms of organic diseases like hyperthyroid that look like emotional disease, and having those symptoms is frightening enough to exacerbate an existing emotional disease. But in no case would I suggest that a psych patient should go cold turkey and precipitously try to substitute healthy lifestyle for mental health care.

[agrarianlady]

I’m so sorry to hear you can’t get something you need, KYGrandma. :-(

If you haven’t yet tried any, I have taken herbs like chamomile, hops, valerian root, lemon balm, or St. John’s Wort for calming stress and to help me sleep.

I know that some have interactions (lemon balm with thyroid) so please look them up, but they have helped me a lot. The valerian root causes me to sleep well, but sometimes it causes more dreams, just not bad ones.

I also have tried melatonin and benadryl in a pinch.

[I am Richard Brandon]

"“If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.”"

AT A PRICE !

[babygene]

“I’ve been worried about this myself, since my wife and I are both primary medicare patients with our doctor, with backup insurance from UHC.”

Same situation with the wife and I. I’m pretty sure Medicare is always primary. You’ll probably be OK though, since to qualify as a preferred DR. with UHC, they are bound to take medicare. That’s the way I understand it anyway.

[ogen hal]

nobamacare has the Drs by the balls...if they don’t play by the rules...no license to practice. nobamacare = stay healthy or die. I retired a few years early because of this pending BS. Good luck to all.