I wish I knew also. :shocked:
When a doctor says "You have skin cancer", I think it's a natural reaction to want it removed ASAP!

I could not know that for sure however he does a lot of surgeries on a daily basis and based on my experiences with Dermatologists over 30 years I do find that the chances of having a MOHS surgery even for basil cell have been much greater with the Dermatologists in The Villages and that cost, justified or not, could be a prime reason why they are no longer accepted by the Plan and not greed of insurance companies or some nefarious scheme cooked up by the Villages Health Plan. Point is no one knows why they were dropped, except perhaps Allient but no reason was Disclosed as far as I know. I am sure Medicare does not just pick names out of a hat.

I agree with that. Since it is usually minor same day surgery second opinions are usually not sought. I remain somewhat skeptical but I still have the surgeries. I had planned to schedule more visits with my NY doctor and fewer in The Villages but this has now made that decision a little easier.

Alliant is not “doing this.” UHC is dropping Alliant. Not vice versa. See the link upstream on the thread to Alliant’s website. The thread title wording is a bit misleading.

Thank you. I am still confused. We have United Health Care Insurance which is used by Dr. Casper's office. Still valid.

This is the health insurance that the Villages Health Care uses which is a small Florida Firm???? Oh please explain someone.

You may have the Supplemental as opposed to Advantage. My best guess.

So. The Villages Health Care System is no longer using Dr. Casper. NOT MEDICARE and NOT United Health Care. Just the Villages.

He has so many patients and people waiting in line because he is GOOD. I don't think it will hurt HIM. Some People may have to buy another insurance to use him? So the petition MAY have been put in his office by disappointed patients and not HIM? He is so kind and would not say no I am sure.

No. This is confusing. The best way to understand this is to read the notice on his site at the link on page one of this thread. And, yes, the petition was started by Alliant.

Gracie look at the small print on the bottom of your insurance card. If it says UNITED HEALTHCARE MEDICARE COMPLETE (HMO) you have a MEDICARE ADVANTAGE PLAN. That is the Villages Plan, not a small company. It is part of United Healthcare. This is the Plan dropping Allient. Dr Casper has not disclosed the reason his practice was dropped. It is curious that The Plan would favor one doctor over another since his patients will continue to seek care, just not with Allient. IMHO it could be one of two reasons, the cost, which may involve an abnormal number of surgeries or the type of care, remember he has a lot of new doctors. I caution you my opinion is just speculation. But before I sign any petition, I feel I am entitled to know why his practice was dropped.

Agree, which is why I said in an earlier post that I wish Casper had posted the letter from UHC on his website. I think there may be more to this than the two reasons you mention, however.

The Alliant website says that if you stop by one of their offices you can get a copy of the UHC letter.

From the Alliant website:

" If you would like a copy of the letter we received from UHC, please stop by one of our offices to receive one. "

This article When Medicare Advantage Drops Doctors, Some Members Can Switch Plans | Kaiser Health News is a couple of years old but is probably still applicable.

It basically says if your doctor's is dropped from your advantage plan you may be able to switch plans or go back to regular medicare. It's not automatic but the law was changed to allow medicare to make an exception when events like this happen so you have to check with medicare to see if you can get one.

Very helpful info, thanks! The down side of switching, though, is you’re now out of the Villages Health System since you no longer carry UHC Advantage. It’s a slippery slope.

Thank you.

An excellent point.

Seems strange especially since we have a lot of Seasonal Resudents that cannot just stop by his office. Why not put it on the Website? Casper should be calling or sending letters to all of his patients to explain why UHC prefers other Dermatologists over his practice. If I did not read TOTV I would not know that UHC HMO dropped his practice. Something very unprofessional about the way this has been handled.

UHC is a business. They have profit goals like every business. When they miss their objectives they go to the doctors and cut costs, usually by asking them to take a lower payment for certain procedures. If the doctor refuses or can't because they just built a new building or expanded staff or some reason, then UHC will find another provider and drop them. It happens all the time.

Always remember that the doctor doing your surgery is the one who agreed with the insurance company to do it for the lowest cost.

Huh. Thanks, I just learned something about doctor group business practices that I never thought of.

And is that a sailboat in your avatar?

Except we do not know that to be the case in this instance since Dr Casper has not disclosed why UHC dropped his practice and approved other providers.

(UHC dropped him, he did not drop UHC, that much seems clear. In fact, he wants to come back to UHC.)

In not publicly disclosing why he was dropped, he has caused unnecessary speculation. Some are whispering about the quality of work of his younger and newer doctors and others about the need for surgery that could be addressed in a simplier fashion. This is unnecessary and possibly damaging speculation.

BTW just because a doctor accepts a lower amount from UHC does not mean his or her work is inferior. It could very well mean that the Practice considers payments from UHC as being satisfactory to cover his costs.

I agree with you about the speculation and I’m sorry to see his practice suffer. But are you sure Dr. Casper hasn’t disclosed the reason by virtue of his offering to give a copy of UHCs letter upon request? Has anyone on this forum seen it?

Surely the reason for dropping him is in that letter. I still think it would have been cleaner and perhaps stifle rumors had it been posted on his site with the other document.

In his defense, I believe this is all very new. He probably never experienced a crisis like this and didn’t know how best to handle it.

Many seasonal residents are not able to go to his office and view the letter from UHC. As one of those people, I am disappointed that Dr Casper seems to be a bit evasive in this regard. UHC has 41 local Dermatologists on their web site with just two of those in Casper’s office so it would be very interesting to know what the 39 other Dermatologists are doing that ingratiates them with UHC while Alliant is being dropped. In this case Silence is not golden.

I'm from Canada, and socialized medicine works equally well for the young and for seniors.
I just had two knee replacements. I also had cataract surgery on both eyes.
The price can't be beat.
I have the doctor of my choice and I can see her anytime.
I am referred to a specialist if I need it or at my request.
Yes, we pay high taxes and we don't mind.
It's a fair way to ensure health care is available for all.

Sadly, that's the real issue.

Your country (and every other developed one on this rock), have determined that its citizens deserve health care.

A large part of our nation have the attitude of..."I got mine, too bad for you."

And driving this is the need to produce a profit...which has just so aptly been demonstrated by UHC. :ohdear:

That is one way to describe it. One way to look at it.

I would think that three out of four reading this forum wouldn't agree.

In Salzburg they pay fifty percent income tax. They only allow top of the class to attend college. Lot of food for thought and debate. Friend had to wait four months for mastectomy in Austria.

Income taxes abroad - Austria

I would be very interested to know how you came to that conclusion since no one seems to know why Casper was dropped and 39 other Dermatologists in our area were not dropped? How do you know it had anything to do with profit of UHC? This thread is about Alliant/UHC and NOT Universal Healthcare. Moderator has already warned twice. Let’s keep this topic going until everyone knows why UHC dropped Casper and anyone who is signing a petition, calling their Congressman etc etc without knowing the answer to that question is doing a disservice to the rest of the Community.

I am a patient of Dr. Casper's, but am not in the UHC Advantage plan. I wonder if I went to his office if I'd be allowed to read the letter. Probably not.

At any rate, there always seems to be confusion about how an Advantage plan works vs. a Medigap or supplemental plan. My understanding is that Medicare takes the Part B premium paid by certain taxpayers on Medicare and "gives" it to an insurer (UHC). UHC then sets up an Advantage plan and recruits doctors who will accept a certain $ amount for their services. Any monies not paid out constitute profit for UHC. If all the money plus co-pays goes to provide care there is no profit, the insurance plan goes insolvent, and the stockholders get upset.

On the other hand, many or most of those eligible for Medicare have Supplemental (Medigap) plans. Supplemental subscribers pay a monthly premium to an insurer. The provider submits a claim to Medicare who pays 80% of the claim and the insurer pays the remaining 20%. Medicare takes the "hit" to its budget in case of a deficit, not the insurer.

Logically, it would seem that UHC/Dr. Casper pulled the plug, unless UHC drafted a contract with Medicare that shifted the deficits to Medicare?

The Alliant website says that you can stop by any of their offices and pick up a copy of the letter they received from UHC.

From the Alliant web site:

" If you would like a copy of the letter we received from UHC, please stop by one of our offices to receive one. Thank you."

“Logically, it would seem that UHC/Dr. Casper pulled the plug, unless UHC drafted a contract with Medicare that shifted the deficits to Medicare?”

I have no idea what the above comment means. Can you explain?

Casper was dropped by UHC. Casper could clear all this up if he simply explained why UHC is retaining 39 other Dermatologists in our area and dropping him.

Would you pay my airfare? Seasonal residents cannot just stop by the office. Why doesn’t he simply post the letter on his web site with the other information?

We really like Dr. David Casper a LOT but I think you are right.

My guess is that Alliant didn't think of the snowbird case... it was probably a shock when the received the UHC letter and they just wanted to get something up on their web site as quickly as they could.

I doubt their office maintains their web site directly, they are probably working through a third party to make changes to it which makes responding quickly to things like this even harder to do.

You might give them a call and ask them to send you the letter.

Well, does Medicare ever put pressure on an insurance company to delete a provider? I don't know.

Dan: I have had this happen before with other providers who were renegotiating the contract with United healthcare. My doctor sent letters out to everyone in the plan that was affected. In my opinion Casper has miscalculated or he just does not want to have all of the information released.

I would like to say "Somebody go get the #$%^&* letter, already!" but that would be rude, so I won't. (And I don't go to Colony Publix, if I may cross-thread...)

But hopefully someone who is in town will go get the letter and tell us what it says.

You may be right Jack, but is seems like this all happened just last Thursday or Friday and Alliant is just still getting it's act together. I'll be surprised if we don't all receive the letter posted to the web site in the US Mail sometime this week.

But I'm not yet ready to assign a bad motive to Dr. Casper yet. He may not be posting the UHC letter to the web site for a bunch of reasons... they literally may not have figured out how to do it, or maybe there is some contractual thing that prevents it, or who knows what???

In any case I'm pretty sure my wife and I will be going to a different dermo next year... I really wish that wasn't the case but it wouldn't be the first time that sort of thing has happened to us because of insurance, HMO or doc's.

:evil6:

I was at Alliant Dermatology this morning and read the letter. A copy was put in my folder but I forgot to bring it home. Basically, it said UHC reviews its medical partners periodically and pursuant to contract terms can cancel the contract with 90 days notice and no signature required from the practice. Therefore, as of September 18 the contract was being canceled. ( I may have the exact date wrong.)

There was NO reason given in the letter. It was a one page letter, short and to the point. I was seeing the plastic surgeon after melanoma surgery and really wasn't focused on the letter.

No. It was more than a month ago when I saw a sign a petition letter in his waiting room. I didn't understand it then or now.

Prayers your way for a speedy recovery. Thanks for the update.