A few years ago, I was anemic when I finished radiation and chemotherapy, and the doctors told me I'd need a blood transfusion in the hospital and perhaps some vitamin B12 shots when I became an outpatient.
Because I was in a hospital, the expensive transfusion was paid for by Medicare Part A. But it was a good thing I didn't need the B12 shots. The law that was supposed to "modernize" Medicare turned what should have been the simple business of getting a vitamin shot as an outpatient into a complicated and expensive federal case.The reason is the privatized for-profit Part D. Under traditional Medicare, most preventive shots, like those for flu and pneumonia, are administered in a physician's office, a pharmacy or a clinic, and are covered by Part B, which pays for the vaccine as well as its administration.
But under the new law, Part B no longer covers many other injectables unless the patient purchases them through a Part D plan or pays for them out of pocket, and then takes them to the doctor for administration.But seeking to coordinate a trip to the doctor with the purchase of the B12 cannot always be easy for many patients. One solution for many people is to buy the injectable B12 in bulk from Canadian sources and keep it at home. The better solution would be to put the benefit back under Part B, where it belongs.
0 comments :
Post a Comment