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To: Rides_A_Red_Horse

I have been very fortunate with my Veteran’s Health Insurance experiences. I would suggest you confirm by phone that yes, you still have an appointment, find out who your provider will be, then ask for the first name and phone extention of the person helping you. If you just started, they may want a Means Test filled out. I may or may not have the correct phrase.

This “Means Test” is a short report where you list your sources of income and any other sources of insurance, secondary, tertiary. The Means Test helps the billing dept. decide if you must pay an out of pocket co-pay with each office visit and /or with each prescription. I’m supposed to pay a small co-pay with my appointments. I never pay on that day of the appointment. I will mail in an amount later that month, to keep my debt to them low. I am most appreciative of having this health insurance now, more so as little problems of aging appear of never really go away,(asthma, arthritis) and I’m not even ‘OLD’ old yet at 57.

You find the usual variety of demeanor with providers, some have an easy going bedside manner, others may also be well trained and nice people, but are so hyper and jumpy, I almost feel my blood pressure rising just to be in their presence. This trait of hyperactive, multitasking doctors is likely to increase with the advent of new monitoring tools like GoogleGlass, which would allow a doctor to view your entire file from their headworn device. The trick will be getting the doctor to talk to you, vs talk to the air while he stares up at that corner on his GoogleGlass. Some doctors will put their ‘toys’ away for a while, if the patient expresses that they are disturbed and feel ignored.
I also expect that we may be given the option soon of having an appointment on SKYPE, or viewer phone, so that one does not need to actually be in the office with the doctor for minor issues. I’d still prefer being there. I would want to send a SKYPE doctor a song from Pink Floyd, the one entitled “Wish You Were Here!”


11 posted on 05/21/2014 3:57:49 PM PDT by lee martell
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To: lee martell

I’ve been in the VA system for about three years and this has never happened. That’s why I’m surprised and curious.


14 posted on 05/21/2014 4:00:50 PM PDT by Rides_A_Red_Horse (Why do you need a fire extinguisher when you can call the fire department?)
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