open heart surgery

this wasnt my surg. .. ..

ad campaigns

so there is this huge uproar in the medical community . .. ..

you can read more about them
here
and here
and here
and here

and i cant say that i blame them. . i am coming at this from a different angle though. as a patient and an owner of a cardiac rhythm device. . i wonder if this is really the best use of their resources. i mean i am currently having a hell of a time getting reimbursed for expenses from a recalled device. . yet somehow they can afford this. . they are calling it an awareness campaign. .. but its a for profit awareness campaign. ..

so medtronic is countering with this

i currently have an aortic root and valve made by medtronic. . and as best i can tell it is serving me very well. . but are they going to start advertising them next. .. well you may have an abdominal aortic aneurysm. .. you should ask your doctor about the $55,000 medtronic freestyle aortic root. .. .. you just might save your life. .. perhaps i am rambling a bit. . i just dont get some people. . this is such a transparent attempt to sell icd's

artificial heart

so i was reading dr wes this morning. .. and he has a great link to a national geographic page. .. pretty cool video

why everyone should support stem cell research

obviously i am not a doctor or a researcher. . but i came across this article recently which talks about how stem cell research has created beating heart tissue in the lab. .. i guess i have a hard time understanding how anyone could oppose using embryos for research that would otherwise be discarded or frozen forever. .. .i can understand not wanting to make new embryos for this purpose. . but i have designed multiple fertility clinics in my day and i know the amount of energy and time it takes to preserve a frozen embryo. .. ok so i am getting off the subject a bit. .. back to the beating heart tissue that will one day save someones life who is reading this. . maybe my own. .. i can understand the ethical issues. . . .they are very similar to ones crossed many times before in the field of science and medicine. .. this argument is not about the right to life movement and bashing them. .do i disagree with the basis of their general arguments. .. yes. .. do i think it has any place in science. .no

so this was fairly hastily written. . ill clean it up later on

pacemaker check up

so today i have a pacemaker check-up. .. and its been exactly 9 months since i had it implanted. .. none months ago seems like years ago to me now. ..to think about the things i couldnt do or was afraid to do back then. .. its amazing to me how quickly the body really heals. . i used to think this was taking forever and i would never really return to my old self. . while there are definitly things that i have and i am still working on changing. .. i feel like such a better person. nine months ago i could barely walk down the street to buy some ice cream. . last night i walked four miles. .. and i couldnt do any of that without my pacemaker. .i used to hate having it. . and i still do somedays. .. but its really become a part of me and many days i forget that i even have it. .. until its a cold day like today and i can feel it just under my left clavicle. .... so today i will go to my checkup like i always do and get a new printout of settings for my wallet. . and have my scar looked at. .. and everything will be fine. .. its really does amaze me how routine all this has become. .. that saying. ."if it doesnt kill you it makes you stronger" really does mean something. so if the next nine months are as great as the last few have been . . i cant wait. . .

why our healthcare system sucks part 2,593

so one of the doctors that saw me during one of my hospital visits last august, filed a claim with my health insurance. sounds ok to me so far. there was some information that was left off of the claim form, such as the date of service. this claim was denied and sent back to the provider to correct the omissions. the provider took about two months to address the issue and then sent me a bill for the total amount . i responded with this letter .. ..

after i sent that letter, i received another bill which said that i owed the total amount. at this point i wrote them back stating that my explanation of benefits indicated that the current patient responsibility was $0.00 and that since they were a preferred provider in my ppo network, no payment was due until the eob said so.

then they decided to send me a threatning letter saying that if i did not pay the current amount that they would send the balance to a collection agency. at this point i called the attorney generals office and asked for some assistance. they informed me that i was not responsible for the balance since it was due to their omission. i wrote them back and informed them of this.

so last week i got a new eob in the mail regarding this claim and it was again denied due to a lack of information from the provider. once i got this letter i decieded to call the insurance company to see if i could give them the information that they needed. .again i was told that i could not. .. so i asked the customer service rep if she could call them and ask them directly for whatever information it is that they need to finally process the claim. so we will see what happens now.

i could be wrong but this ONE claim has taken at least three hours of my time, i am guessing at least three hours of time from both my insurance company and the provider. .. for what. .to get back to exactly the same place that we started at. at some point isn't it cheaper to write these amounts off and not spend so much time and energy and effort trying to collect. the other reason i think that these providers are so nasty about trying to get me to pay them is that if i pay them- i have to pay the entire bill of $475. .but odds are my insurance will only pay them $200 or so. . but if i pay the 475 and submit it to my insurnace they will pay me back the full 475. .

it makes me sick