Scam? or what?

[Fred Robinson]

Recently I made an appointment with my Dr. and the lady there wanted to interview me about medical care. I agreed. She gave the impression that the medical group would supply medical care for me for a set yearly fee and she wanted to know how much I would be willing to pay for it. She asked if I would be willing to pay $1500 a year, $1800 or $2200. I told her that I already had health insurance and medicare and thought no more about it. After extensive lab tests, surgery and a short hospital stay I am stumbling around as before. A few days ago I got a phone call from the medical facility. The lady said my Dr. wished to cut his patient load from above 3000 patients to around 600 patients because the present load allows him to spend only 15 minutes with each patient. With only 600 he could spend an hour and do more testing and use more health maintenance measures. A few days later I received a MDVIP Membership Application that requires a $1500 per person payment. The brochure says, "Should you decide not to join, please complete a medical release form and a copy of your records will be provided at no charge. If you decide not to join the doctor will work with you to identify an appropriate physician for you. Continuity of care is a priority for us.

MDVIP Hq. is at 6001 Broken Sound Parkway, NW

Suite 100

Boca Raton FL 33487

Have any of you had dealings with this sort of thing? Please advise.

Robby

[R.J. Coker]

Never heard of it but it sounds just like that prepaid legal stuff that went around a few years back.  They want you to pay up front just in case you need a service.  Also sounds like it should be brought to the attention of the State Attorney General.  Sorry I am no help-rj coker

Fred Robinson <fmill...@comcast.net> wrote:

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Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now.

[Fred Robinson]

Thanks for the reply. I googled MDVIP and there's a whole lot of info there. The MCVIP is a company doing several million dollars a year in the business of taking $500 of the $1500 each that the Dr. collects from the 600 patients. The Dr. gets $600,000 and MCVIP gets $300,000. It's just a little pocket change between friends. Of course that happens every year and the patient still pays the same as before. The Drug companies love it because they like to have thousands of customers taking millions of pills every day. That's how they bought the US Senate.

Robby

[Ralph...@aol.com]

Isn't that strange??? About a month or so ago, we received a letter from our doctor of 30 years where he stated he was no longer going to file for Medicare and advised his Medicare patients to seek another physician from a list provided. However we didn't know any of the provided doctors (they were listed as ie.Lowcountry ........or Palmetto..... no names). So we got out our Blue Cross/Blue Shield listing of doctors and called to ask if he was accepting Medicare (yes he did).

Do you suppose there is something in the wind?? Also when Irma went for her yearly physical with the OBGYN doctor, she was told she didn't need to come back for 2 years instead of 1. And when I saw my urologist (I had been going every 6 months) he said I didn't need to come back for a year.

 

Know what?? Did you ever examine your Explanation of benefits letter where it says something like this:

   

    Dr XYZ charges $150.00 for services

    Medicare says the usual and customary charge is $60.00

    Medicare pays $48.00

    BC/BS (or other supplemental insurance) pays $12.00

 

Any wonder why any doctor stays with Medicare??

 

Ralph

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[kandlhutto]

Fred there is one doctor in your beloved Mount Pleasant that has on his own changed his practice of medicine to this very concept.  He has 100 patients that pay $2,000.00 per year for his undivided attention.  Those 100 are the only patients he sees.  For their $2K they get home visits, e-mail responses, direct telephone contact and no additional fees from him.  He get $200,000.00 per year and a much stressless practice.  He claims this patients get better care because he gets to know them better etc.  Now Fred if you are interested call and I'll give him your name.  You never know you may be able to teach him a few things?

[Frank Stevens]

 

Hi All,

 

I suspect you guys may be a little like me. On 1/30/95 I quit being real serious about trying to completely understand a great deal of detailed paperwork. Most of it has been related to medical procedures of some description or other. For some time I have felt that fees were exorbitant but, since my med. coverage paid most/all of it, I was probably supporting someone(s) (part of the 40 million without coverage) who were paying little or nothing. As a result, I continued to gloss over it. Since I suspended my FEHBP(BC-BS), I have Medicare and TriCare for Life. I still get the same type of EOB’s that take a Philly lawyer to decipher. Bottom line, as long as I don’t get a bill from the provider, I’m happy as a pig in poop.

 In Jan., Paula had her thyroid removed. She went into Roper at 6:00, into the OR at 7:40, was out about 9:30 and I sprung her at 2:30. Just the hospital bill (excluding the surgeon and the anesthesiologist) was over 14G’s. After the usual EOB’s from Medicare and TriCare, I still owed $316. Since that was unusual, I called to see if everything had been satisfied. As it turns out, there were 4 items that were denied by Medicare and subsequently by TriCare. The items were Lidocaine, Bupivacine(Marcaine), artificial tears(ointment), and Travaprost. I asked why they were denied and was told that they were items that could be self-administered. I then said, “so if I’m under your care and have my medication, I’m expected to self-administer it” Obviously, the answer was no. I then said that something here has to change. I then Googled each one to see if there was anything unusual about any of them. The only thing of interest was that Travaprost was also called Travatan and I then knew what it was. I then called the surgeon’s office to inquire about them and was asked to get an itemized bill for that portion and send to him. He couldn’t understand why they were billing for the Lidocaine and Marcaine and the eye ointment was to essentially help hold the eyes closed during surgery(go figure).

I then called Roper billing again and asked that charges be reviewed again. As it turns out, the last item (Travatan) was the bulk of the charge at $284 dollars. BTW, it’s for glaucoma and is administered one drop in each eye at bedtime. I then asked if that wasn’t a little high for a medication that shouldn’t have been given. I was told that someone would review it and get back to me in a week or three. Oddly enough, they did get back to me in just a few days and decided that the charges would be dropped. Imagine that.

          Keep in mind that these are only the items that I looked at. How often does this occur and we not know it.

 

 

SS

 

 

From: x31a...@googlegroups.com [mailto:x31a...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Ralph...@aol.com
Sent: Saturday, April 26, 2008 3:00 PM
To: x31a...@googlegroups.com
Subject: (X31 H&W) Re: Scam? or what?

 

Isn't that strange??? About a month or so ago, we received a letter from our doctor of 30 years where he stated he was no longer going to file for Medicare and advised his Medicare patients to seek another physician from a list provided. However we didn't know any of the provided doctors (they were listed as ie.Lowcountry ........or Palmetto..... no names). So we got out our Blue Cross/Blue Shield listing of doctors and called to ask if he was accepting Medicare (yes he did).

 

No virus found in this incoming message.
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Version: 8.0.100 / Virus Database: 269.23.5/1399 - Release Date: 4/26/2008 2:17 PM

[Fred Robinson]

Thank you very much for the kind offer, K, but as you know I live in the blue-collar part of Mt. Pleasant. The golf and tennis crowd on the Berkeley County side of town call my neighborhood the Servants Quarters. I think it would be pretentious on my part, even if I could afford it, to pay a two grand a year retainer to a pill peddler. The neighbors would throw trash in my yard.

However, I don’t find fault with the doctor who cares for one hundred patients for an up-front fee of $2000 per year. I realize that is only his fee and doesn’t include costs for all of the lab testing required to diagnose the ailment of the patient. Of course, some of the tests required make one wonder if the Doctor owns shares in the testing facility he uses.

I am a democrat and believe in free enterprise and no salary cap on baseball and football players. I also think it would be perfectly ethical for garage man to accept a retainer for being available to repair my car in case it breaks down. I say, “more power to a person has enough money to show off with.” That’s what money is for, and if I had some I would certainly use it in that way. I would have a chauffeur, a butler, a personal trainer to jog for me and maybe even a yardman. Meanwhile, I enjoy living in a town that has citizens who can afford the luxury of having a flunky on call for any inconveniences. I just hope they don’t chase me out of town.

Thanks for the offer,

Robby

----- Original Message -----

From: kandlhutto

To: x31a...@googlegroups.com

Sent: Sunday, April 27, 2008 8:25 AM

Subject: (X31 H&W) Re: Scam? or what?

[kandlhutto]

Now Robby, if I didn't know you better I would think you are getting ready to run for mayor of Mt. Pleasant.  Goodness knows we need you!  Would you please consider?