Posted on 04/14/2014 5:08:17 PM PDT by Lorianne
Obamacare patients who go to their doctors for a free annual checkup are finding out that they may have to pay for the preventive healthcare visit after all.
They are angry to learn that if they mention past or ongoing health concerns during the physical, that can result in co-pays and deductibles, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Under the Affordable Care Act, preventive care includes screenings for high blood pressure and high cholesterol counts, evaluations for several cancers and diabetes, and vaccinations. The patient is allowed, in most cases, one checkup per year.
But "wellness" care on potential new health issues is viewed as "evaluation and monitoring," and leads to patients having to fork out for the "free" annual physical.
"Patients are scheduling physicals because physicals are free," Randy Wexler, a family physician in Columbus, Ohio, told the Journal. "But they come in and say, 'I've been having headaches. My back has been bothering me, and I'm depressed.' That's not part of a physical. That will trigger a copay."
Wexler says they are not happy about the charges. "They'll say, 'I have diabetes and hypertension and heart disease and seeing you is preventing them from getting worse, so that should be fully covered,'" he said. "But under that theory, everything would be free with no copay."
Doctors told the Journal that seniors have started canceling their annual wellness visits under their Medicare plans when they learn that if they mention a current health issue during the checkup they will likely be charged a co-pay.
Some doctors are even warning patients in advance of the problem and ask them to schedule two visits, one for the "annual" and another for their current health issue, according to the Journal.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...
During my prep with the doctor at scripps la jolla, he told be what he would do if he found a polyp and what my options were. Then I signed a form authorizing everything including a biopsy.
Unless it’s an emergency and your unconscious and no relative around, they have to get your signature on an authorization form.
I know about people not knowing if polyp removal is covered, and then getting hit with the bill. Financially, we were prepared if it wasn’t covered.
My best friend was recently diagnosed with colon cancer, and my husband had prostate cancer 2 years ago. We were pretty motivated to have our screenings. The doctor found polyps for my husband and me. My husband has to have another colonoscopy in 2 years because of something the patholgist found. It would have been worth it even if we had to pay for the polyp removal. Getting colon cancer is much more expensive!
I wish the best of health to you and your husband.
But incidence of colorectal cancer is only about 35/100,000; you couldn’t pay me to have the exam especially with total absence of family history.
Well, they caught a polyp on my husband that they said was precancerous.
W hat’s the ncidence of getting prostate cancer at 50 without any family history of it, and my husband got it.
The colonoscopy is easy. The prepping was the worst part, but not bad.
Glad they caught it but incidence of perforation and other complications goes way up after age 60.
They almost always say the polyps are precancerous even if the likelihood of actual cancer is quite low.
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