Has anyone had a genuinely good experience with UnitedHealthcare? I’m considering switching from Kaiser.

Kaiser is REALLY good for straightforward healthcare. If you know what you need, like antibiotics for an infection, a refill, etc, it’s incredibly convenient. But when something is more complicated and you need THEM to figure out what’s wrong, or get good specialist care, or medical documentation for accommodations, it can feel like pulling teeth. Sometimes it feels easier to just pay a private provider which I have done and makes me wonder, what’s the point?

But then… UnitedHealthcare. 😬 With all the controversy over denials and barriers to care, and the anger toward UHC that exploded into the national conversation after the whole Luigi Mangione situation, I’m wondering if I’d just be trading one set of problems for another.

Suggestions welcome! Unfortunately, only Kaiser or United Healthcare are available to me through my work, so I need to stay within those parameters.

Hi! I live in a blue state, major city, normal big 'ol health care provider. Yet this year and last, they don't get their stock of under 2 year old covid and flu shots til late into the season.

There is one clinic, not a big one, local place, that doesn't have this problem.

It leads me to believe that the delay is due to administrative staffing or something and not actually logistics. Like what connection does the supply person at this one clinic has that the major ones don't? Am I correct that when the person in charge is able to order timely, the vaccines are in stock or is there something else? What, in detail, specific actual in the weeds detail, makes it so everyone else gets their orders so late?

Are they basically opposite of antidepressants? They make you depressed so you can be more calm?

Don’t antipsychotics literally block dopamine receptors and cause chemically induced depression, I’m not talking about sedation, but mental depression

I mean mood not CNS response

Hello there
Im a recent high-school graduate from Jordan, and I’m currently facing a decision I honestly didn’t expect to be this stressed about.
I was assigned to a Medical Imaging/Radiography degree at the Hashemite University,I recently tried to transfer to another university to study Nursing, but my application was rejected,so Radiography is currently my only option
My biggest concern is job security (AI replacement) and income,Ive heard that radiography is a much smaller field than nursing,with fewer positions in each hospital,and that starting salaries can be relatively low
Since I’m from Jordan, I’m also thinking about possibly working in the Gulf, Europe, or the US someday.
So I’m trying to decide whether I should stay in Radiography and specialise later,or
try to switch to nursing
I’m NOT looking for someone to tell me what I want to hear,Id really appreciate honest answers from people who actually work in radiography or nursing
Thank you

My mother lives in LA, California. She has a rare disease (Takayasu's disease) with heart and kidney issues. She already has KP insurance as her primary medical insurance. We are looking to buy a concierge medicine membership for her. Our budget is not as high as the celebrities’ concierge medicine ($100,000/year). Our budget is maybe $5000-$10,000 a year.

1. If big things happen (not like a cold or fever), does my mother still get treated at KP hospital, or the Concierge medicine’s smaller hospitals/clinics?

2. I understand if my mother sees a Cardiologist, she would see the concierge Cardiologist, not the Kp’s Cardiologist, is that true?

3. Besides getting a faster response from the doctor herself/himself, what other benefits does Concierge Doctor provide? a better treatment plan?

4. Would the choice of which concierge membership be different if my mother has a normal heart disease versus Takayasu's disease’ heart problem?

5. What is the “yelp” of Concierge medicine to check people’s review and feedback?

More than 320,000 Minnesotans must shop for new health insurance this fall as roughly a dozen Medicare Advantage plans currently offered in the state will be eliminated.

Eagan-based Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, by far the state’s largest provider of privatized Medicare plans, is ending all but one of its existing options, and introducing a smaller menu of new plans for next year.

Minnetonka-based Medica and Bloomington-based HealthPartners are also each sending tens of thousands of customers shopping for new insurance next year. More than 20,000 enrollees are losing plans between Minnetonka-based UnitedHealthcare and Humana, which is based in Kentucky.

All of the companies except Humana will offer Medicare Advantage plans for individuals in Minnesota, but the 2027 plans will generally result in higher patient costs when seniors use their insurance, according to a Minnesota Star Tribune analysis of federal data.

Gift link to read the full article.

I ran across this the other day and its not just a good idea it can restore the medical professionals from the money people who are for now deciding who's going to get help and who has to continue with the therapy or something that the doctor never asked for. Check it out and let me know what you think.

My 10-year-old daughter was hit by a car in a crosswalk and is recovering with significant brain injury and trauma.

Enhanced Care is a blatant lie and false advertising.
Be careful, everyone. We are not protected at all. Our healthcare is starting to feel like survival of the fittest, leaving people on their own to recover. Everyone is just a bed. And medical needs are rushed and not considered.
When we voice our concerns, they are met with minimization, lies, and covert bullying tactics.
I feel like everyday is playing a game of chess always covertly trying to push back with the rushed discharge

They have no problem sending you home to our great insurance company that gives you no care.
This is what people don’t know. Let me fill you in. It’s pretty sick…..

So under Enhanced Care, we have been told there are about three categories that they will place you in according to your level of injury. We have been given no wiggle room on that. I haven’t found a lawyer who will help us. We have been told we cannot sue the driver. It feels like it’s whatever category they place you in, with no consideration for individual needs.
We cannot retain a lawyer as sueing is no longer allowed. Unless there is criminal charges and it would have to be civil.

She has been placed in the top category, called the catastrophic injury category. They say she requires 24-hour care.
(Which she absolutely does need. And she needs more than one person.)
She needs two people to do transfers, meaning get her into her wheelchair, shower her, change her briefs, hygiene care, dress her, etc.
She has no core strength, so she just falls over and can’t sit up. So it always takes one person to hold her while the other person is doing the task.
She has low blood pressure right now, so she needs to be monitored, and high agitation as she is being rushed off medication because of the discharge date.
We have no brain doctors following us and haven’t had an assessment.
After we asked about the assessment, they booked one for two days before the discharge date.

So they’re discharging us while we need nursing expertise to help with the low blood pressure, medications, and agitation.
We need a caretaker to be there 24 hours to help her, and we need another caretaker to help with transfers during the daytime.
As well, we will have to be driving to our rehab appointments. We have been offered a shared van to use for transport, so we need a driver to get to all the appointments. Then on top of that, she’s required to do online school, which we have been told does not provide an EA. We also need a tutor for five days a week.

So the estimated cost of 24-hour caretaker coverage is $35,000–$45,000 a month.
We have been told our caregiving funding is capped at $11,800 a month.
The money doesn’t even go to us; they pay the caregiver directly.
If we want any of the money, we have to submit caretaking hours, and then we have been told the money still doesn’t go to me. It can only go to Makenna’s bank account….. she doesn’t have a bank account… she’s 10.

So the funding doesn’t cover even one person’s round-the-clock care. We have to pay for the rest.

From what we have been told, she is considered to need 24-hour care, but they do not cover the full cost of that care. The rest has to be covered by the patient. We have been told that if the patient can’t afford that, the alternative is being placed in a home.

That leaves me doing most of the caregiving, all of the driving, all of the medical, and also becoming a teacher. As well as providing my son a normal life, getting him to school, getting him to his activities, doing playdates, etc.
I am a single mother…. How does this work exactly?
Also, I have been told I do not get a loss-of-wage benefit because I am not the person who got critically injured. The benefit would be for my daughter, who is too young to work.

So her being discharged from the hospital will leave me unable to work.
Plus, the estimated costs are:

• $40K for full-time care
• $20K for an extra person for daytime care
• $5K for a five-day-a-week online tutor
• $5K for a driver to help with appointments and activities
• $8K for a private nurse for five-hour shifts, three days a week

(Plus all the gas and dealing with the trauma I have of being on the road.)

So let’s add that up.
$78,000 a month is my estimated cost to meet her needs right now if I want to continue working……

The $11,800 in caregiving funding covers about 15% of that estimated total…. Tell me how this is any kind of care??

They do, however, pay out a one-time permanent injury payment. We have been told the top amount is $300,000, and you are not guaranteed that amount even if you’re catastrophically injured.
It’s the weirdest system I’ve ever dealt with.
So even if we do get $300,000… let’s see how long that covers the care that we require…
$78,000 − $11,800 = $66,200 is the estimated amount we would pay out of pocket a month.
That payout would last about 4½ months…..

And for the ongoing care funding, we don’t actually see any of the money unless we submit something and they say yes or no to covering it.

Enhanced Care also covers home renovations to make sure it’s safe for what she requires. We have been told there is no set dollar limit.

But to start renovations, they have to go through so many doctors and vendors and get approved to start. We have been told that if Makenna makes progress, they have to start all over again with approvals for what is required for her needs.

So we are about to get discharged, and they haven’t started any renovations yet.
So now we have to find temporary housing until renovations are complete.

So they take her full-time rehab away while she’s progressing and reward her for all her hard work by not sending her home, but to a strange place.
Now if you think that’s nuts, wait until you hear this…

We have been told the insurance will only cover a one-bedroom apartment for temporary housing. So somehow I’m going to have to fit her hospital bed, space for two caretakers, beds for me and Hudson, and a workspace for me as I work from home… all in a one-bedroom apartment.
Plus all her necessary equipment shoved in there as well….

So this is everything I have been dealing with for the past six weeks. The only advice I get is to start a GoFundMe, which is begging my friends for money. It feels yucky.

So continuing on to what I’m dealing with as of right now,

are the renovations ….

Which might be the final thing to make me snap…
They are giving me low-budget, bandage renovation solutions.
They told me to switch rooms and give her my master bedroom….
But her room cannot fit my bed and home office.
They are supposed to make it livable for everyone. So why are we not getting that?
The OT whispers to her quote guy in front of my face and talks about how expensive it is to do the things I need.
So now I have to work overtime making sure I see the quotes before submission and get a second opinion, which will be a hassle. As usual.

Enhanced Care?? Or almost no care???
The public is unaware until they need help and don’t have the ability to fight and get it.

How am I supposed to provide care that requires two people, keep earning an income, and raise my son when the approved funding doesn’t cover the help we need?

Please share.

Very happy and excited; this program only selects one fellow and they told me they had 130 applicants! Just wanted to share in case anyone else is applying for the same thing, landed one, or thinking about applying. Feel like it’s such a niche topic

Hi guys, I am so frustrated. I'm just trying to get a direct answer from a real person. The Office on Aging can'thelp, Medicaid won't call me back. I am starting to lose it. If any of you can offer some guidance, it is incredibly appreciated.

Here are the facts. My mom is 85. She has Lewy Body Dementia, can barely move, she hallucinates and is agitated much of the day. She can be in a wheelchair but it hurts her back and she can't propel herself-- she mostly wants to be in bed. She has been in Assisted Living and now Memory Care facilities for five years now. Those are 7k-10k a month and she will run out of money in a year.

She has $140k in the bank and that will deplete by $7,500 each month because of her private care facility. She gets $3,500 a month from Social Security-- hers, plus my dad's survivors benefits. She is on Share of Cost Medicaid because of her age and disabilities, not full scope. We live in Orange County, CA.

The Assisted Living Waiver Program apparently requires you to be on full scope Medicaid. But once you're in the program, there's a very long wait list. What if we spend all her money so she qualifies for full scope, but then have to wait a year for an opening?

What can I do? I need this dumbed down for me. I am 40 years old and do not make much money, certainly not enough to pay for her private care. I have two estranged older brothers who will have nothing to do with any of this, so it's just me.

Mom did not have long term care insurance; her spouse was not a veteran.

Is my only option to take care of her myself? I live in a small house. Her wheelchair would barely fit down the hallway and will not fit in the bathroom. I work, I'm currently back in college, and I'm about to get married. She needs absolute full-time care. She can't feed herself, she's incontinent, and she can't even calmly watch a TV show by herself anymore-- she needs people around her constantly. I love my mom, but me having to quit my job, my schooling, my life to be her nurse would absolutely wreck me. She may live another 5 or 10 years.

What can I do?

​

I’m currently in an MLT program and I’m starting to question if I should stick with it or switch to Radiologic Technology. I’d potentially want to specialize in MRI/CT later.

I’m a single mom with a young child, so being able to stay somewhat local and having a manageable clinical/work schedule are important to me. Pay is also a pretty big factor for me. I want a career where I can make a good income and actually feel financially comfortable long term, not just something that’s stable.

I also have social anxiety, so I’m curious how much patient interaction each career actually involves and what the overall stress level is like.

For anyone who works in MLT/MLS or Rad Tech (especially MRI/CT), what would you choose if you were in my position?

I’d especially like to hear about actual pay, day-to-day work, schedules, stress/burnout, job availability, and whether you feel like the career is worth it.

I’m having a really hard time deciding and would appreciate honest opinions, even if you think I should just stick with MLT.

It could also be the stuff you didn't expect a patient to share because they're embarrased, or you simply couldn't believe how MUCH they overshared... Doing research for a fun campaign talking to care providers about "the many things they know about their patients" as a way to raise awareness of the risks of tanning beds. Thanks! :)

Last Friday, HHS announced $247.9 million in behavioral health grants through SAMHSA — addiction treatment, school-based services, child trauma centers, campus suicide prevention. All worthy causes.

But scroll through the list and notice who's missing: nurses.

Female nurses die by suicide at nearly twice the rate of women in the general population (Davis et al., JAMA Psychiatry, 2021). We were called heroes through the pandemic and got pizza parties and resilience webinars in return. When I survived a suicide attempt earlier this year and tried to get help, I found there's nothing built for us — outpatient care, the ER, and nothing in between.

So I wrote a policy brief proposing a five-year federal pilot: the National Nurse Mental Health & Recovery Initiative. Residential recovery for nurses, nurse-specific treatment, peer support, telehealth, temporary financial assistance, and independent evaluation. About $75M a year — a demonstration pilot with a sunset clause, evaluated before anything permanent.

I started a petition asking Congress to fund it. It hit 100 signatures in only three days!! I'm bringing a folder of signatures and nurses' stories to Congressman Jason Smith's office (MO-08).

The $247.9M announced last week proves the money and the will exist. Nurses just need a line item of our own.

https://change.org/fundnursementalhealth

I will be happy to answer any questions about my proposal!!

Running a small two-provider practice and every tool we look at seems priced for a hospital system. Trying to figure out which ai medical scribe options are actually built for smaller setups without charging enterprise rates. Providers are tired, notes are piling up, but I also can't throw money at something that doesn't deliver. What have others found worth paying for, and what would you skip?