Morning Reads for a 50th Anniversary

A while back, the Mrs. and I departed the hallowed halls of Piedmont Hospital and moved over to Emory. There were a number of reasons to do so, but one significant reason was because of the insurance carrier / hospital wars between Blue Cross and Piedmont. I had grown tired of being treated as a pawn in their battles. Ultimately, I came down on the side of Blue Cross since my monthly insurance rates are the result of the costs which my health care has incurred. Follow the money. In that sense, it was evident that Piedmont was preoccupied with maximizing the use of their facilities to the exclusion of other, less expensive vendors.

Case in point: My primary care physician, a man that I respected and loved, had been sending me to Quest Diagnostics for blood work. The Quest office was in the old Sheffield Building (“off campus”) and had all the charm of a quickie oil change facility. But, on the other hand, it was less expensive, something which I noted because I have an HSA and was well aware of costs. After the Big War, my blood work was no longer done by one person at Quest but in a more expensive Piedmont facility. And involved making three stops at three different locations, staffed by three different people just get my blood drawn.

So, going back to the last war, I was getting letters from both Blue Cross and from Piedmont trying to get me to get involved in their dispute on their behalf. A pox on both their houses, but, in the end, I side with Blue Cross since their motive is to control costs. It doesn’t help that Piedmont cut down all of the trees out in front of their facility on Peachtree. So much for respect toward the community.

Bah.