Re: Dr. Rabkin and Pacificare HMO

[Guest guest]

Barbara,

I am not sure why this was addressed to me (or was it to Chris

Hawkin's) since I wasn't the one to pose the question. But, ... now

that you have got me started ...

I know insurance companies suck - only getting $3000 per procedure is

bad. With only 200 procedures per year you only gross $600,000, and

then there was that additional $600,000 from the " program fee " .

Dividing that among office staff and paying rent probably doesn't

leave enough to rent an apartment in San Francisco.

Now $12,000 x 200 patients = 2.4 million. Now we are talking some

real MONEY.

Hey, its a capitalist world. Go for it. There must be enough .com

millionaires who are MO to keep the business going.

For those of us that didn't strike it rich in the .com era, while we

have 2 fine surgeons in California that we can go to. And for those

that can sneak in the back door with Sutter-Gold or Brown & Tolland -

hey more power to them.

In principle I don't have a problem with Dr. Rabkin charging $1

million per procedure if people want to pay that. It's just an issue

of what you want to be all about: Making $$$$ or helping people who

don't have $$.

I am open to accusations of being hypocritical. I could afford to

shell out $12,000. But let me ask, what the HELL have I been (or my

employer) been paying these BIG premiums for all the years!

I have been continuously covered since I was a toddler, and now I

deserve to have proper medical treatment without shelling 12 big ones

out of my own pocket.

I do think that charging an additional fee for filing the paperwork

really adds insult to injury.

But hey, its a free country. I just want EVERYONE on this list to

know the facts before hand.

One gall on this list found out after she received approval. She then

called Dr. Anthone and found out she would have to start the whole

process from the beginning and would have to wait another 5-6 months

until surgery. She wrote me that she was in tears. I haven't heard

from her since. She probably has become so depressed that she

dropped out and gave up.

Hull

> Chris---the bottom line is that we charge $12,000.00 because we

cannot

> continue offering the DS with the reimbursements that insurance

companies pay

> and keep our doors open. Barbara Metcalf RN