The best thing about this job is that we get to meet some really great people. Today we met some outstanding folks who are going to make a difference.

Cover America made a stop right here in Nashville today and a few of the change:healthcare team had a chance to catch up with them. The cross country trek to capture stories of consumers’ difficulties with the healthcare system is part of a Consumer Reports effort on the healthcare front.

We really enjoyed meeting Meg, Blake, Pauline and Liz. Even got our photo with the RV in Centennial Park, in the shadow of Hospital Corporation of America (oh, how we love the irony of that one). Many thanks to these folks for what they are doing - fighting for the healthcare consumer.

Meg is getting a much deserved break after three weeks …

I had the opportunity this week to attend the National Multiple Sclerosis Society’s Gallatin support group to tell them about change:healthcare (of course I couldn’t get the projector to work, which made sharing the application a bit difficult, however it all worked out). As I began to tell them what our company is about, what our application could do for them, and the ways in which we have been working with the NMSS Mid-South Chapter to get the application out to some clients for free, I sensed they were kind of surprised. They don’t really have anything other than a spread sheet to help them get their healthcare cost under control, they do not know where the least expensive pharmacy is (even though they often have hundreds of dollars in prescriptions every month), and some have even called around looking for the least expensive place to get a …

Interesting article popped up today on how the healthy population may cost more in terms of healthcare than the obese or smokers. The premise is that the healthy person lives longer and therefore has more opportunity to run up costs in part because they have a longer window to work in.

Let me add a little personal perspective to that. I have been fortunate in my life in that I have lost relatively few people in my immediate family (partially the result of parents who were both late children, and many of my relatives were gone before I was 6). However, lately, the odds have been catching up to me. My parents, my in-laws and many other people close to me are getting older and facing increasingly greater health challenges. One in particular comes to mind.

This friend is a former coach, world champion in sports and just flat out all …

In going through my multiplying number of unread feeds I ran across an interesting piece from last week (sorry to those of you who have already done your reading). Politico published Young and Uninsured Turn to Facebook highlighting the large number of young adults interested in health care reform policies of the “08 election.

I wish I could describe my excitement over learning about the interest among youngsters in health care reform (I am an advocate and incredibly interested in making a difference - hence I work for a company called change:healthcare).

My excitement over this issue soon turned to distress when I read the New York Times article about Hospice and this mornings subsequent letters to the editor. On a sad note, about a year ago my grandfather (a wonderful man - Quentin Welty) spent the end of his life, with minimized pain and maximized dignity, …

Dad passed away Dec 3rd and Mom a year later on Dec 23rd. I miss them both. Tremendously.

When asked why i started change:healthcare, why i give a damn about healthcare consumerism, why it is important to make a difference – it’s because i told them and myself that i would do something. Something honest, sincere, and significant.

From my Father I learned the meaning of compassion, honesty, a sense of humor and the value of a warm smile and a firm handshake.

From my Mother I learned that nothing is impossible, loyalty, integrity, hard work always pays off (just sometimes not in the way you thought it might) and that there is good in everyone though sometimes you’ve gotta look really really hard.

Your son and grandchildren miss you. In loving memory.

– christopher

I wasn’t able to get out go shopping on Black Friday so I thought I would do some catching up today. Since we are now in the season when “it” is going around, I thought I would be a good healthcare consumer and get some prices for a strep test for when I might need one. I thought my question was simple enough. “How much do you charge for a strep test?” I made a list of general practioners provided by my current insurance provider’s web site. I thought this is going to be easy, it even identified which of the fifteen practices were accepting new patients. I soon discovered how wrong my initial impression was.

The first office I called explained that their fee for a strep test has a sliding scale based on what they end up having to …

That’s the line that stared back at me from the printout on the prescription the bag came in.

Your insurance saved you $84.99.

Did my insurance truly “save me $84.99″ I wondered.

Like most of us with private insurance, I don’t get EOBs for my prescriptions. I simply pay a prescription co-pay of $10 for generics and $35 for brand drugs. So did the pharmacy accept $84.99 less because of my insurance? That was the implication, but was it fact?

Or did my insuror pay $84.99?

Exactly how did the transaction go down?

As someone who actually pays for their insurance and does not have it provicded for me as an employee, I wondered, since when I get underwritten next year, the expense will be considered and may contribute to a rate increase. If my insurance paid $84.99, then they most certainly DID NOT save me $84.99, but they paid out $84.99 on my behalf - …

I spent a lot of time in Germany - 2 years to be exact - and found Unity’s post about Health 2.0 taking off in Germany very interesting http://wisdom.blogs.com/health/2007/11/health-20-takin.html (see the original post at http://gigaom.com/2007/11/17/health-20-gaining-traction-in-germany/). Both systems have something to learn from one another, and here are some tidbits.

I got to experience the German healthcare system firsthand. It was interesting. From a customer service standpoint, it left much to be desired. Office hours were sporadic - worse than a college professor with tenure. However, there was a policy in Germany: Just go the doc during hours and take a seat. They HAVE to see you if you get there before close of office hours. From that standpoint, I can see why there might be some resistance to a ratings system. Their system just doesn’t make for the best customer service. As an ailing patient I was there for 3 or 4 hours and …

I just saw the Paul Potts’ story that has flown across YouTube. As we all struggle with our daily challenges, including healthcare concerns either as Caregivers, Providers, Employers, or even Insurers… it is important to embrace those glimmering moments that impress upon us that even against all odds that that which we never thought could or would happen CAN happen. 

Just as a British cellphone salesman can sing opera and win a million dollar recording contract (yes, opera. He went to choir in school to avoid school bullies) — even something as staid, inflexible, and unchangeable as the U.S. healthcare system can be improved by its ultimate consumers… people like you and me.

Here’s to changing healthcare.

OK call me naive. I thought my healthcare provider was working for me. In all fairness, it usually does, but this past incident reminds me that they do not always.

I recently had a provider’s office call me back for a follow up - some photos. Pretty simple really - they had already done it once. Problem is, the insuror said the pictures were not sufficient to determine if they would approve the procedure. So the nurse called and asked me to come back. I asked who would pay for that. The other end of the line went quiet for a moment, the nurse clearly taken off guard by the question, but she quickly understood that it was a customer service issue and said that if the pictures weren’t good enough that they would not charge me to retake them. Satisfied, I went in.

At the front desk, the woman asked for …