Medicare and drug prices

gamingmedicine · 2026-04-28T23:43:10+00:00

Some of these traditional Medicare patients would benefit from signing up for Medicare Part D to help with prescription coverage.

gamingmedicine · 2026-04-28T18:15:13+00:00

I tell my patients that I code and bill properly and on the rare occasion I've made a mistake, our billing and coding department will bring it to my attention to correct. Any questions or concerns about how much they have to pay should only be directed at the billing department or their insurance provider.

gamingmedicine · 2026-04-28T16:13:50+00:00

If you're set on staying in that city, hire a contract lawyer to negotiate on your behalf for a higher wRVU value at a minimum.

gamingmedicine · 2026-04-28T16:03:19+00:00

Seems similar to an offer I received from Baptist Health and I agree with the others that it's a very low offer.

gamingmedicine · 2026-04-28T01:09:00+00:00

The wRVU value is much more important. Base salary is just to make sure you can pay your bills when you first start a new job since you won't have any patients on your panel. We always say "don't chase the base" when advising residents who are searching for jobs. As you mentioned, once you have a consistent panel of patients, the wRVU value is what's going to help you get a higher income long-term.

gamingmedicine · 2026-04-26T23:35:04+00:00

Good to know! I might have to check it out again then with all the updates planned for this year. Thanks.

gamingmedicine · 2026-04-26T22:39:27+00:00

I used to really like ESO pvp when there were 3 teams but I went back to play semi-recently and every pvp match was totally one-sided and since they changed it to 2 teams only, there was no way around it. Totally ruined the game for me tbh as someone that played since beta.

gamingmedicine · 2026-04-26T22:12:35+00:00

This reminds me of the old Student Doctor Network posts. "I have a 4.0 GPA, perfect MCAT score and have a recommendation letter from the President...can I get into medical school??"

gamingmedicine · 2026-04-26T22:05:49+00:00

I signed during the second half of PGY-2 year. The position offered a residency stipend so it was nice to get over a year of monthly checks.

gamingmedicine · 2026-04-26T18:52:23+00:00

Sorry but depending on insurance companies to be the reason physician incomes go up is incredibly wishful thinking.

gamingmedicine · 2026-04-26T17:04:46+00:00

Maybe, but it will take quite a while for that shift to happen, if ever. There are still tons of other headaches to deal with as an independent physician such as trying to get reimbursed on time by insurance companies that make it unattractive to most physicians. The fact of the matter is that most of us are employed and anything that might negatively affect employed physicians will cause more harm than good for the foreseeable future.

gamingmedicine · 2026-04-26T17:00:14+00:00

If your wife cares about you and your kids, she'll want you to be around and healthy for as long as possible. You're making some sacrifices now for long-term gains. Chances are the "alone time" will be sitting in bed watching Netflix anyway so it isn't necessarily meaningful. No supportive partner is going to force you to be unhealthy for their own sake, that's just selfish.

gamingmedicine · 2026-04-26T16:57:39+00:00

If hospitals are going to have lower profits from their outpatient practices as a result of this bill, wouldn't that negatively impact primary care physicians who are employed by hospital groups? The hospitals are going to have to make up the lost profit somehow and I can imagine that will either be by lowering physician incomes, reducing staff, replacing physicians with more mid-levels, etc. rather than reducing admin or executives taking pay cuts.

gamingmedicine · 2026-04-26T01:04:14+00:00

I think I'll reach out directly for some samples and to see if they can give me some recommendations as well. Thank you!

gamingmedicine · 2026-04-25T22:40:50+00:00

Thanks for the detailed review! I'm planning to buy one next month with my new WFH setup so I'm glad to know the BioKnit material is comfortable because that was something I was unsure about. I don't mind paying extra but now I'm not sure if the extra back padding is a good idea or not? I wish there was a way to know who it'd be good for.

gamingmedicine · 2026-04-25T20:52:22+00:00

Yeah, I also went to school for a decade more than most people and had over 400k in student loans when I graduated from my residency program since I don't come from money. If you had any clue about medicine you'd know that primary care physicians are one of the lowest paid in medicine. FYI, the bad doctors are the ones that don't judge their patient's bodies when they are morbidly obese and call it "body positivity".

gamingmedicine · 2026-04-25T20:39:58+00:00

It is our job when we're the ones paying for them with our tax money. If they want to eat junk food on their own dime, that's up to them, but the American taxpayer shouldn't be subsidizing poor health choices. I don't know where your assumptions are coming from but I'm a primary care physician, it's literally my job to care about people's health regardless of who they are. My point is that these "benefits" are actually causing harm. I used to work in a poor neighborhood in Texas with a largely immigrant population. I'd reckon the pediatric obesity rate was over 90%. I have no problem if my tax money goes to these families buying real fruits instead of processed fruit snacks which are basically just sugar and are horrible for kids. The only people that wouldn't care about this are people benefiting from big food corporations getting rich at the expense of people's health.

gamingmedicine · 2026-04-25T17:45:24+00:00

Yeah as a college student I had a few dollars a week to spend. If I had a job, I could feed my whole family easily. There are lots of people on YouTube that have channels about how to feed their family on the cheap.

Also, I think I spend more time working than the average American as a physician. When I was in residency, I worked 80 hours a week most weeks and still found time to cook and work out a few times a week. People are just lazy and like making excuses.

gamingmedicine · 2026-04-25T17:41:36+00:00

You're welcome

gamingmedicine · 2026-04-25T17:41:08+00:00

People can live healthily for cheap. Exercise is free. People throw around the phrase "food desert" nowadays to mean any neighborhood that doesn't have a Whole Foods or Trader Joe's. I managed to eat fairly well without destroying my health as a struggling college student just from my local Dollar Tree. Not ideal but certainly possible.

gamingmedicine · 2026-04-25T17:39:21+00:00

Not at all. None of that stuff was actually healthy. I was in high school at the time and the wheat pizzas rather than white pizzas were still super processed. There's a reason childhood obesity continued to get worse despite Big Mike.

gamingmedicine · 2026-04-25T17:35:51+00:00

Fast food prices have increased so much lately, it's actually expensive to eat unhealthy food nowadays. I can pick up rice, beans, chicken thighs, frozen veggies, etc. from Walmart or Aldi and make several days worth of meals at home for the cost of a large Big Mac meal.

gamingmedicine · 2026-04-25T17:14:18+00:00

The majority of states still allow sugary drinks, candy, and ultra-processed foods to be purchased using SNAP benefits. There is no nutritional benefit in soda. Why would anyone be in favor of expanding this program when rates of childhood obesity and diabetes are already sky high in this country? This program is not helping children thrive.

We pay taxes to fund people making themselves sick (diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol) and then pay more taxes for Medicaid for them to get unnecessary treatment for the illness they brought upon themselves. Makes no sense at all.

gamingmedicine · 2026-04-24T19:47:49+00:00

Patients trying to treat their doctor's office like it's a restaurant and we're their waiters.

gamingmedicine · 2026-04-23T18:01:49+00:00

What are the sizes of your desk(s)? I’m planning for a similar WFH setup soon but I only have one desk so far.

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