A Nurse Practitioner's View

Just when you think you might've seen it all, some companies are rolling out medical gift cards . There is perhaps nothing more complicated as a health care consumer attempting to navigate the health care system and trying to figure out costs. I can see it now: bewildered looks from health office personnel trying to decode what the card even is in the first place; "should we apply this towards your deductible, or maybe the lab fees" etc. Of course, the problem is most of the time folks have no idea what they are paying for health care services and providers don't know what they are getting reimbursed. Here is just another poor attempt at trying to solve the mess of the health care system we have today. At least with a Health Savings Account ( HSA ) you get a break with it being tax-exempt. I'm not sure what benefit these medical gift cards offer. Maybe since costs are so out of control, people would rather not carry around the wads of cash to pay for services? So

Hi All, It has been awhile since I've last had a thoughtful blog post (a hectic personal life has a way of re-prioritizing things!) Though there's been no shortage of topics to write about. The heath care reform bill has gained momentum, mammogram screening guidelines were revised , and H1N1 vaccine and cases continue to make headlines. This is certainly an interesting time to be in health care. I look forward to seeing what the future brings and plan to be part of these discussions (or at least have something to say about them here on my blog). Till then......