Posted on 12/05/2024 6:08:36 AM PST by TigerClaws
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — Those who use Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance will likely soon have to pay out of pocket for anesthesia services, should their surgeries fall outside a specific time limit. This applies to patients in New York State, Missouri and Connecticut.
Officials with BCBS announced that this would begin with claims processed on or after Feb. 1, 2025. According to BCBS, “We will utilize the CMS Physician Work Time values to target the number of minutes reported for anesthesia services.” Any surgery that goes beyond the set limit, will no longer be covered.
There are some exemptions to this. Those include patients under the age of 22 and patients in need of maternity-related care.
News 8 reached out to Anthem BCBS and have not received a response. We have also contacted Excellus BCBS, which is a separate company, and were told they will get back to us when they have more information to share.
Wednesday night in response to this news, Governor Kathy Hochul wrote via X (formerly Twitter), “Outrageous. I’m going to make sure New Yorkers are protected.”
You’ve been under for 18 minutes..no more gas for you pal!
In the past Anesthesiologists routinely charged in excess of what the BC/BS of the world paid. Yes, it was a patient’s responsibility to pay the difference.
Why just those states?
It seems those are “problem” states where practices may be less than optimal.
Incredibly, I agree with Hochul on something. Perhaps, though, Kathy, if our health care system wasn’t strained by millions of unhealthy and often diseased illegal aliens (and by a significant subset of that group demanding free maternal care), the bean-counters at the insurance companies wouldn’t be so desperate.
Fentanyl from the street might come in handy in the future. Oh my insurance cut me off, no problem, brought my own Heroin.
I guess shootings don’t get the attention they used to.
A BYPASS IS 5 HOURS or more, depending on the # of blockages, after they get setup. Some up to 10+ hours. They only fast 1 is a colon screen, which Cologuard use could reduce need for. Preempted Covid Heart/Cancer
America needs “Health Care Free Trade Zones.”
It would be a geographical entity within each state where Doctors could establish practices and hospitals, where taxes are very low, doctors would only charge cash, where 3rd party payers are not allowed, where FDA rules are limited, where tort liabilities are capped.
Maybe Indian reservations can have them, where tribal sovereignty rules could apply.
Regardless, Americans will need a second system to develop, alongside the bloated, expensive, dysfunctional one we have in many states, which is destined for collapse.
You’ve been under for 18 minutes..no more gas for you pal!
—
Next up:
“We’re half way through your triple by-pass heart operation, can you afford the other half out of pocket? If not, we’ll just call it good and go on to the next patient.”
This is good.
I am tired of fraudulent doctors and anesthesiologists over-charging their hours, forcing the rest of us to pay.
If you think there are no such crooks who defraud the system, then don’t reply to this. While the insurance companies are no angels, they would not need to enact these rules if someone didn’t already game the system.
At least BCBS is not as fraud-filled as Medicare/Medicaid.
Anesthesiologist trickle billing has been driving me crazy for years. Never in network it seems and totally unpredictable amounts.
Colon screening does not require anything, I have done three without any drugs. The anathiesist is standing there ready but it is totally unnecessary. They are uncomfortble not paiful.
I was charged $2,000 for a shot of saline.
YOU will still get the gas——But YOU WILL HAVE TO PAY FOR IT.
I would be really screwed if any of those procedures were denied anesthesia for some political gamesmanship. I've returned to work as of Nov 25 and feeding the greedy tax monster again. My fed taxes alone are $67k for this year.
Their fees have long been out of control.
Hospitals should have in-house staff for that and manage costs accordingly.
“Or if you’d rather, here’s a bullet you can bite.”
If I read this correctly and if it’s true this cannot be allowed to happen.
I don’t know who would stop it or how, but the reasons to prevent this change are legion.
“Mine was 4 with a great surgeon. Unfortunately, my renal artery was nicked.”
Sorry you went through all of that, but a great surgeon? Love, sounds like he was in a hurry if he nicked your renal artery and didn’t know it and fix it immediately.
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