Does your health insurance company want to make house calls?

jimintoronto said:
I have to laugh..........So many in this thread keep saying...I don't want strangers coming to my house.....But I bet those same persons would have no problem if the "Strangers " were Police or fire fighters or Paramedics. Are Americans all so paranoid or are the SF members a breed apart?
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Police or fire fighters or paramedics would be there because they had been called and asked to come emergently.
 

GoodEnuff said:
Police or fire fighters or paramedics would be there because they had been called and asked to come emergently.
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I WAS an Ambulance attendant. My point was the bit about " I don't want strangers coming to my house " Obviously the first responders ARE Strangers to the home owner. Stranger fear seems to be an American thing.
 
I recently received a couple of calls from what sounded like was my health care provider's office. They wanted me to sign up for a special service where I could call 24/7 and get prescriptions refilled, appointments, etc. The person speaking was very careful about their wording of how this service worked, it was only $25/month with "maybe" co-pays. They knew the name of my provider (a nurse practitioner), recent diagnoses, etc. I asked a few pointed questions and it just didn't sound like it was my provider's office calling. So I looked it up online. No, it was a service the HCP's office could contract with. For every 100 patients who signed up for this "service", the HCP would reap $300,000. Not kidding.
 

Happyflowerlady said:
When we had HUmana and also United Health Care, they had an annual doctor home visit. They just did a basic exam, looked at my feet for swelling, checked temp and BP, stuff like that. It was never anything that we felt was intrusive, and I am pretty sure we could have refused it if we didn’t want to have the home visit.
Now, we have Devoted Health, and they just call you a couple of times a year to see how you are doing, so it is basically the same kind of thing, but is a tele-health visit instead of an actual person coming to your home.
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I have United Health Care and I had the home visit by a practical nurse last year. Scheduled to do it again soon. I will be honest with you, I did it and will do it again mainly because they add a reward of $50. to my benefits card. She did that same type of exam and we talked the rest of the time. She explained the benefits that were available to me. Then she gave me a really nice insulated shopping bag. I had no problem with it.
 
katlupe said:
I have United Health Care and I had the home visit by a practical nurse last year. Scheduled to do it again soon. I will be honest with you, I did it and will do it again mainly because they add a reward of $50. to my benefits card. She did that same type of exam and we talked the rest of the time. She explained the benefits that were available to me. Then she gave me a really nice insulated shopping bag. I had no problem with it.
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Yes, we always got rewards for that checkup, both with UHC and also with Humana. Humana gives you points for that and also for several other health checkups, like bone density test, annual dr medicare checkup, stuff like that.
They also gave me points for getting exercise and steps, so each time I went swimming at the fitness center or even just walked around the house, I got 365go points, and then i could cash those points in for gift cards.
At first, you could get Amazon gift cards, but later they dropped that, and it was just for other stores.

Devoted sends gift cards for getting the health checkups, too. They do not reward as much as Humana did, however they have more available with their Healthy Benefits option than any of the other companies offer, and this year they are expanding it so i can use the HB card for vitamins and supplements and not just groceries.
The fitness center where we were going closed last summer, and the other one that takes out Silver Sneakers and has a swimming pool for me, is twice as far away, so we have not been going there as often as before.
 
Happyflowerlady said:
Yes, we always got rewards for that checkup, both with UHC and also with Humana. Humana gives you points for that and also for several other health checkups, like bone density test, annual dr medicare checkup, stuff like that.
They also gave me points for getting exercise and steps, so each time I went swimming at the fitness center or even just walked around the house, I got 365go points, and then i could cash those points in for gift cards.
At first, you could get Amazon gift cards, but later they dropped that, and it was just for other stores.

Devoted sends gift cards for getting the health checkups, too. They do not reward as much as Humana did, however they have more available with their Healthy Benefits option than any of the other companies offer, and this year they are expanding it so i can use the HB card for vitamins and supplements and not just groceries.
The fitness center where we were going closed last summer, and the other one that takes out Silver Sneakers and has a swimming pool for me, is twice as far away, so we have not been going there as often as before.
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UHC puts $213. on the benefit card on the 1st of every month. I have to use it all up by the last day of the month. I use it mainly at Walmart and that is how I have been able to eat so much better this last year. I get rewards for every ten days of walking (or any exercise) and that puts $10. on the card and then it starts over the next month. I can go to the YMCA and UHC covers it but I have the problem of how to get there. It is too far for me to walk presently. I am trying to improve so I can walk there in the future.
 
That is about how it works with Devoted Health, too, @katlupe . We do have a grace period past the end of the month, but I make sure to have all of mine used up by then. It is limited to where the card works, and mine is only good at Walmart as far as a regular grocery store. It can be used at Walgreens or Dollar General, but they are not any good for buying fresh foods; so I always order from Walmart. With the Walmart+ Assist program, the yearly cost is under $50 for the free delivery; so I probably could not get any better delivery even if I could shop elsewhere with the card.
So far, Devoted does not have any benefits for fitness tracking like UHC and Humana does, but the monthly benefit is better for me. They are a new company here, so not all the doctors are on their list yet, but most of the specialists and the hospital is all on there.
 
jimintoronto said:
I have to laugh..........So many in this thread keep saying...I don't want strangers coming to my house.....But I bet those same persons would have no problem if the "Strangers " were Police or fire fighters or Paramedics. Are Americans all so paranoid or are the SF members a breed apart?
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Many of us don’t need this service. If we need medical care we go to our doctors. It’s a waste of time and intrusive.
 
I have an Aetna Medicare Advantage plan, and yeah, they called and want to send a Registered Nurse out to check on me. I told them that I really didn't need one, because I was a Registered Nurse, But that didn't seem to cut the mustard and they still wanted to send one out. I told them no way. But they are persistent little buggers, sometimes I get 3/4 calls per day-I just let the answering machine pick up. I understand it's a lot medically cheaper and better for the patient if things are caught in the early stages. But if I'm going on 79, and I ain't dead, I must be doing something right.
 
When you first go onto Part B Medicare at 65, there is this "Initial Health Visit", some doctors use to just get to bill Medicare for this visit that lasts 5 minutes and is such a waste of time and govt money. I've had several calls to try to get me to go to this visit...from several different docs offices. Then, if they can find something that even looks like a diagnosis code they can bill for, they will. They get to bill higher for more diagnosis' too. Govt is looking into this scam.
 
I have no problem with uhc house calls.the.nurse was very professional and forward the results to my Dr.plus money on my card and a gift.
 
An yes, it is annoying and even harassing. I deleted my phone number on record and they still call-- for years now.
They figure that a home nosy nurse will prevent visits to the doctor and save insurance company money.
Whenever a company or business says they are doing a favor for you, they profit or save money.
 

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