Quote:
Originally Posted by Jayhawk
You make some interesting observations.
Since you have been with the system for about 4 years and view the care as "well below" what you had before, why have you waited to change?
How do you know it's "just about the money"? Obviously, that matters to any business, but could there be other factors? There has to be a maximum number of patients they can serve with the present infrastructure. Over time, Advantage patients could be denied access if there are insufficient openings due to acceptance of all Medicare plans. Sort of like TV schools- if those in now don't follow guidelines for attendance and are allowed to remain, that penalizes those waiting to get in who would comply.
As for tweaking their business model based on results, that is what all good businesses do. Those that don't often fail.
I guess since you aren't that thrilled with the care, and were planning to move on anyway, you probably are not upset with this decision on the part of VHS.
For all who stay in (and everyone can stay in by participating in the accepted plans, similar to many business models), this should be a good thing for long term stability. I know I am counting on it.
Choice is a good thing, and everyone gets to make their own decision about whether to remain in the system. Just hope folks make their decision on facts and not RUMORS as you mentioned.
No one is being booted out, and that is a great thing.
Have a great day.
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Jay Hawk - I'm happy you feel that you've made a good decision on your healthcare plan. Just wish we felt the same way.
We've been with VHS from the start - coming with the doctors at Family Doctors at Belleview. We were very happy that they were bringing a great health care model to TV. And they were the single largest reason we made the decision to purchase a home here vs other larger communities in Florida. Up until we bought our home, finding a good PCP was not easy.
I, personally, participated with the USF focus group in 2011 on what type of medical concerns were keeping couples like us from purchasing a home. It was an interesting and rewarding experience. Not long after, VHS began their program and promotion of the Dr. Welby philosophy. There were able to bring good doctors and support personnel along with them (who by the way have one year, 50 mile radius non-compete clauses in their work contracts.. including the NP's).
We saw the writing on the wall last year when friends who were turning 65 were being told to sign up for Advantage or get out. I began to look at who is who at the top of the VHS system now - none other than Kaiser Permantente followers and practitioners.
I guess that most people have forgotten what happened 20 years ago when HMO's were all the rage - lousy health care, big requirements for referrals and stalling tactics...
So, we will return to FL this fall already signed on with a new PCP... we took care of that before we left for the summer months in NH... By the way, for those of you who travel outside of TV, you need to check to see if your state and county are in the plan.. For us, only 3 counties in NH are considered... we would be SOL should something happen to us while up north.
And, last and most important, you all really need to investigate what your out of pocket expenses are going to look like with the "zero" cost premium. When I looked at it a couple of years ago, you have an out of pocket charge of $$$$ for the first 5 days of hospitalization - and that is not a one time charge.. It's for each incident. It would only take once to eat up the costs of an UH Plan F plan (that's what we have) to get you to realize you've probably made a mistake.
I wish all of you the very best on the new plan. In my parting letter to VHS I reminded them that they were putting thousands of patients at risk should this new venture fail - as it is almost impossible to get supplemental coverage like we have now after going for the low ball program.