A Useless 'Perk' from My Health Insurance

I have found them most useless perk from any health insurance plan ever. When I was diagnosed with RA, my health insurance informed me that I was eligible for this perk called the Accordant Care in.

What this plan includes is a quarterly conversation with a nurse on current medications and any recent heath issues I might have had as well as a monthly newsletter with health tips. The nurse is also available at other times if I have questions on any health issues.

That all sounds good, right? Wrong.

Every conversation with the nurse consisted of them reading me scripted questions that I had to answer: have I fallen in the last ninety days, do I have additional issues, have I had an RA flare, etc. Also, a review of each and every medication I am on and asking if I am still taking the same dose and if I have changed any medications. This could take as long as 20 minutes. I never have benefitted from any of these phone calls. I often felt like was interrogated during each call as I had to wait for them to review each medication and then go through the rest of their script.

Their newsletters are also useless. First, I used to get them electronically. The email would come with a long url in it where took you to a secure page where you had to sign in. If its a newsletter why does it require a secure log in? So they can tell if you actually read the damn thing.

I couldn't deal with those newsletters so they switched me to the printed ones. Often they are only one 8.5"x11" sheet printed double sided, in large type, with half a page of mailing space and fine print. So on those, you would often get one topic article that was about 200 words long.

I just got the latest newsletter and its just as annoying and just as useless. The four articles include: staying healthy and out of the hospital - you should have that as a goal; tracking changes in your health by keeping a journal; when you should call your doctor; a checklist for when you see your regular doctors; and finally a continuation on setting goals for 2018. 

It did not tell me anything I didn't already know. Its written in language an 8 year old could understand. And since its put out by doctors who probably had a lawyer vet it so it doesn't provide anything specific, other than you need to see your dentist every six months.

I have been ducking their calls for the last two years. If I could figure out how to get out of the program I would. If it was offered to you, I would not recommend it.

The lesson I have learned here is just because you are eligible for a 'perk' do not accept it before knowing what you are getting into. Accordant Care is just awful for the patient.

Other people's health

Sometimes my health does not take center stage in our house. Today is one of them. My husband is having a colonoscopy. He had a 'bad' one a few years back and now is on every three years. He spent a lovely afternoon and evening making little trips to the bathroom. But now he is sleeping and we will leave in an hour. I will bring a peanut butter sandwich he can snack on the way home.

Later today I will also call the vet. The cat has been looking a  little skinnier than usual recently. He did celebrate his 20th birthday (with extra treats) back in November. This is the equivalent of dealing with a 110 year old so we know he will not be around forever. However recently he has been exhibiting some fairly dire symptoms.

We are hoping for the best but not very optimistic. He was my chemo buddy. My husband got him shortly before we first met in 2002. He is an important member of the family.

 

Today I will be the caregiver for them both.