People are squeezing in appointments before the end of the year, to spend the remains of flexible spending accounts or to take advantage of relative bargains after meeting deductibles.
By Vikki Ortiz Healy, Chicago Tribune
December 29, 2011, 3:28 p.m.
Reporting from Chicago— While many people are spending the last week of the year hitting after-Christmas sales, Sue Sners has other ways to save money.
A mammogram on Wednesday. Hand surgery on Friday.
Across the country, people are squeezing as many healthcare appointments as possible into 2011 — colonoscopies, mammograms, root canals.
Some people need to take advantage of their current insurance coverage before their employer switches plans. Others hurry to spend money in a flexible spending account, which might otherwise be lost when the ball drops at Times Square. And those who have met their deductibles, or even their out-of-pocket yearly maximums, can get relative bargains by expediting care that they need anyway.
Sners, 55, has met her $1,000 annual healthcare deductible, so her insurance provider will pick up much of her costs.
"Everything's so expensive now, and people are trying to save wherever you can," she said.
Consumers' knowledge of insurance deductibles and flex accounts has improved, and they are trying to use that knowledge to their advantage.
"People are much more financially savvy," said Ellyn Chin, vice president of finance for Gottlieb Memorial Hospital in Melrose Park, a Chicago suburb.
And medical facilities must adjust to handle the demand.
Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in suburban Downers Grove is limiting vacation time for employees in the endoscopy department, which sees a 15% to 20% increase in patients from Thanksgiving to the end of the year.
At Gottlieb, some orthopedic surgeons have doubled their daily surgeries from two to four, to accommodate people who insist on being seen in 2011.
And the call center booking appointments with physicians at Northwestern Memorial's downtown and Lake Forest hospitals jumped from 350 on a typical Monday to 459 on the day after Christmas.
Fredrik Tolin, market vice president for Humana Illinois, said health insurance companies have been boosting deductibles to match the rising cost of healthcare.
"I don't see this changing," said Tolin, whose company offers medical coverage to about 500,000 people in Illinois. "In fact, we see more employers and individuals moving to plans that have high deductibles to make the health insurance premiums more affordable."
At Adventist La Grange Memorial Hospital, also outside Chicago, employees are so busy this time of year that one sent a prayer request to the on-site chaplain, asking for divine help in handling the added workload.
But Sarah Reposh, a pharmacy technician at Gottlieb, says she understands the year-end rush.
"I try and get my kids in one last time to see their doctor," she said. "I do the same thing."
vortiz@tribune.com
Reporting from Chicago— While many people are spending the last week of the year hitting after-Christmas sales, Sue Sners has other ways to save money.
A mammogram on Wednesday. Hand surgery on Friday.
Across the country, people are squeezing as many healthcare appointments as possible into 2011 — colonoscopies, mammograms, root canals.
Some people need to take advantage of their current insurance coverage before their employer switches plans. Others hurry to spend money in a flexible spending account, which might otherwise be lost when the ball drops at Times Square. And those who have met their deductibles, or even their out-of-pocket yearly maximums, can get relative bargains by expediting care that they need anyway.
Sners, 55, has met her $1,000 annual healthcare deductible, so her insurance provider will pick up much of her costs.
"Everything's so expensive now, and people are trying to save wherever you can," she said.
Consumers' knowledge of insurance deductibles and flex accounts has improved, and they are trying to use that knowledge to their advantage.
"People are much more financially savvy," said Ellyn Chin, vice president of finance for Gottlieb Memorial Hospital in Melrose Park, a Chicago suburb.
And medical facilities must adjust to handle the demand.
Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in suburban Downers Grove is limiting vacation time for employees in the endoscopy department, which sees a 15% to 20% increase in patients from Thanksgiving to the end of the year.
At Gottlieb, some orthopedic surgeons have doubled their daily surgeries from two to four, to accommodate people who insist on being seen in 2011.
And the call center booking appointments with physicians at Northwestern Memorial's downtown and Lake Forest hospitals jumped from 350 on a typical Monday to 459 on the day after Christmas.
Fredrik Tolin, market vice president for Humana Illinois, said health insurance companies have been boosting deductibles to match the rising cost of healthcare.
"I don't see this changing," said Tolin, whose company offers medical coverage to about 500,000 people in Illinois. "In fact, we see more employers and individuals moving to plans that have high deductibles to make the health insurance premiums more affordable."
At Adventist La Grange Memorial Hospital, also outside Chicago, employees are so busy this time of year that one sent a prayer request to the on-site chaplain, asking for divine help in handling the added workload.
But Sarah Reposh, a pharmacy technician at Gottlieb, says she understands the year-end rush.
"I try and get my kids in one last time to see their doctor," she said. "I do the same thing."
Copyright © 2011, Chicago Tribune
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