Shit!
Fwiw, i get similar things done via the patient portal for free. Although a friend did pay something like that to get a paxlovid prescription after self-diagnosing with covid. His was also a “telehealth” visit, that was mostly filling out a form and maybe 2 minutes talking to a nurse. (So you see two red lines on your covid test?)
Jesus. That’s what I pay for an out of network visit with my doctor, in his office, with a full checkup, ECG, the ol’ gloved hand exam, and extended conversation about my health. Tele-health is supposed to be cheap and convenient.
The school health insurance plan for international students seems to be a racket.
Collect $3600 a year for a catastrophic plan that covers a young, largely healthy population, negotiate “in-network” fees with providers that are outrageous and because of the high deductible are paid by the patient not the insurer.
I don’t know what coverage would be like in case of a serious high-dollar issue, but I’m betting it would be ruinous to the student and family.
Unsurprisingly the health insurance provider is United Healthcare.
Sorry for the late bump. The dominant health care provider in my area has dumped both United Healthcare (my sole choice in my companies retirement health plan) and Cigna from their accepted Medicare Advantage plans.
I assumed that it was a money fight (and a 60-40 split (ins. comany vs health plan) on who was being the asshole), but that Cigna nugget makes it fairly clear why they got dropped.
I had Cigna a long time ago. Thank goodness I don’t anymore. We’re on Regence Blue Shield, so far (fingers crossed) we haven’t had trouble with providers.
I too had Cigna a long time ago. They routinely denied valid claims with no explanation, just “denied”. That only got resolved when my employer’s benefits department got involved (“state law requires that you cover these services”). Shortly after my employer dropped Cigna in favor of Anthem Blue Cross, who’ve been fine.
I am very pleased that in my last few months with Cigna we made them pay for a broken leg and a birth (unrelated events).
Just dropping this here…
Honestly, i think part of it is that if you get sick enough to lose your job, both your credit score and your risk of death increase. But I’m certain that the larger factor is that people with money trouble get less and less-good care in the US.