Ok so the healthcare industry has spun up a whole new investment vehicle, a way of scooping money from Peter’s pocket to pay Paul, so that Mary feels like she’s covered. It’s dizzying in its details and it annoys the f*ck out of me that we have to make these decisions every year during Open Enrollment. I have until November 20th to figure out which plan is going to be right for me. Oh, and there’s a new bot named Alex and a microsite to help me figure it out.

I bet I can guess what that digital investment cost to build, and you know what? It was money poorly spent. Those digital assets, those capex write-offs The Industry tries to justify….they do nothing for my health, in fact, they are a detriment to my mental health. As is The Industry constantly renegotiating contracts! Learning which doctors are in network/out of network? This a like a real-life game of whack-a-mole, except without the fun or the prize.

But, I am supposed to be grateful to be covered by my employer! And to be accurate, I am. And they have paid over $10k per year out of their profits to keep me healthy enough to keep being employed by them. They are doctors themselves, so I really do believe they (my employer) put health first and value health above money. People above Profits. They’ve demonstrated it nicely during the pandemic by granting mental health days once per month for every employee, and they’ve given us all a work from home office supplies stipend. They put their money where their mouth is, as far as living their values, and I am very appreciative and grateful. It is the top reason I have a full time job as opposed to being a freelancer.

That is what this Healthscare In America Blog is about, the eternal nonsense of the bureaucracy and the bullshit jobs of claims administrators and medical coding billers and the inefficiencies of it all. I could go on…the obliviousness of the patient, the doctor and the actual users of the system. I suspect there are some very fat cats getting rich off of the sick systems, and it makes it hard for me to process any information objectively for sound decision making when it comes to this kind of stuff.

Alex the digital-decision-making-bot (by Anthem?) turned out to be pretty good/not bad.

youngchrisgirl, a so-called usability ‘expert’ in my day job

I ultimately chose the High Deductible plan, and set aside extra pre-tax money to pay for all the medical care I’ll know I will want, like massages and chiropractic care. My guess is though, even though they’ve sold me on it, when it comes time – the Navia card won’t be accepted by that doctor, or the funds set aside will have to be paid by me upfront and then submitted for a claim and I’ll probably miss a deadline. Like I said, I’m suspicious of the whole endeavor. Considering that five years ago I was downright paranoid, I guess that’s progress. I’m learning how to work the system.