Arkansas Blog

So $19 and $20 per hour work in the Katrina fiasco was billed out at $75.

That's almost as greedy as home health nursing.

The independent nurses get $45 per call plus 57 cents per mi.

the patient gets billed $198 per call plus any supplies. Any wonder

Medicare is a losing proposition?

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What I heard along with this very good news is they plan to remove FEMA from the DHS.

To bad they aren't planing on dismantling DHS altogether.

I'm glad to hear that, ES.

DHS is a joke, and Jerkoff is a chertoff.

While I'm not thrilled that James Lee Witt and company got paid nearly four times what the actual work cost -- yeah, yeah, I know about overhead and profit making -- I think he and others had to step into the gaping hole left by "Good Job Brownie" and the Bush administration in general. So let him fix it again. Just no hefty contracts with the agency AFTERWARDS.

Now as to Medicare, or any insurance, and home health care, eLwood -- been there, done that. In my case several years ago, and my husband's case this year, I'd say that 70% to 80% of the care is unnecessary if there is someone in the house with the patient who has just a little sense.
In my case, with an external fixator, I had to change the dressings and clean the area carefully to avoid infection. Even though I had insurance, I freaked when I learned that my insurance was being charged more than $200 per visit. I quickly learned to tend to my needs.
My husband's situation has been more complicated, but the only thing I couldn't do without the nurse was monitor his blood oxygen -- no Pulse Ox. The Pulse Ox model his nurses used cost about $300. You'd think that Medicare would pony up for one rather than continue to pay for weeks of daily home health care visits. It would save money after two days. Nope. Doesn't work that way.
And tell me how much it accomplishes to know an oxygen reading one time in 24 hours when the patient is sitting in his recliner. Dumb, Dumb. Dumb.
Indeed, eLwood. No wonder Medicare is a losing proposition.
Does working for the government require throwing common sense out the window?