One of the most confusing aspects of managing medical expenses seems to be figuring out different insurers' and providers' documents. There is a morass of terminology, with little standardization or cross-reference.
Some members of these forums are old pros at making sense of it: you have taught yourself e.g. that Network savings = Provider adjustment = Provider write-off = (maybe) Non-covered charges.
And in MEM V2 we've addressed this to some degree by adding
mouse-over definitions for many terms (point your mouse-arrow to a term, the definition pops up for a few seconds)
a Glossary of Terms under Help and in the .pdf Quick Reference Guide (viewable under Start > Programs > Quicken Medical Expense Manager), and
better explanations in Help, for example, "How do I enter information from a medical bill?"
But do you think it would be useful to have a wiki -- a collaborative website where users could upload their own medical billing documents, with notes about how the documents map to MEM?
In other words, would you wiki?
The goal would be a common resource we could all use, to quickly and easily decipher medical bills and insurance documents from any source.
Only one person should have to go through the deciphering for each source; from then on, the learning would be shared.
Quicken Bruce ... Sure, it sounds like an interesting idea. I've been amazed at the variety of insurance nuances this group discusses. Makes my situation seem pretty simple: Medicare Parts A, B, and D with a Supplemental Plan. ;-)
I'm interested. BTW - are any folks on this board familiar with Great Western PPO? I don't have the Plan Document but am about to accept a job offer with a company that offers two diff. Great Western plans (POS - blend of HMO/PPO. no way) & PPO. Most of our docs on it. We've been very spoiled over the yrs - but will likely now have face reality (60 therapies/yr instead of unlimited; possibility of non-coverage of enteral formula - my daughter's lifeline. her "food"). Of course, they havent' met me yet. I'll give 'em a good run for their money. LOL:) >:)
Hi, Bruce. I really like the idea, but could you clarify what you mean by "upload their own medical billing documents"? Because I probably would not be comfortable with placing EOB's with LOTS of personal info on the internet.
>but could you clarify what you mean by "upload their own medical billing documents"? Because I probably would not becomfortable with placing EOB's with LOTS of personal info on the internet.
Same here - that's why I said I'm "interested" instead of "count me in". Would also need reassurances that this area would be closed. Wouldn't want non-registered users to have access to it (like these boards).
> probably would not be comfortable with placing EOB's
> with LOTS of personal info on the internet.
Same here - that's why I said I'm "interested"
instead of "count me in". Would also need
reassurances that this area would be closed.
Wouldn't want non-registered users to have access to
it (like these boards).
Barrie
I would need, and want, no such assurance; and even if it were given, I would not feel comfortable relying on it. My plan from the beginning was to only post documents that were very carefully and thoroughly redacted so that all personal information had been deleted or edited to a point that it was no longer identifiable to me, my family, or our conditions.
Of course, if Wayward and I were the only ones to post documents <my apologies, Wayward, for pretending to speak for you ;-) >, I trust the rest of you would still be inclined to elaborate on, and correct, anything that we say.
>> their own medical billing documents"? Because I
>> probably would not be comfortable with placing
EOB's
>> with LOTS of personal info on the internet.
>
> Same here - that's why I said I'm "interested"
> instead of "count me in". Would also need
> reassurances that this area would be closed.
> Wouldn't want non-registered users to have access
to
> it (like these boards).
>
> Barrie
Then Tony said:
I would need, and want, no such assurance; and even
if it were given, I would not feel comfortable
relying on it. My plan from the beginning was to
only post documents that were very carefully and
thoroughly redacted so that all personal information
had been deleted or edited to a point that it was no
longer identifiable to me, my family, or our
conditions.
Of course, if Wayward and I were the only ones to
post documents <my apologies, Wayward, for pretending
to speak for you ;-) >, I trust the rest of you would
still be inclined to elaborate on, and correct,
anything that we say.
-Tony
Tony ... we are in agreement. ;-) Speak away.
Comments from Quicken Bruce will be of interest ... but here are my initial thoughts. Since none of my medical forms come in electronic format, the only way to communicate the info would be to 1) scan and upload a form or 2) define the provider/insurer, describe the form fields, and comment on field relationships to QMEM.
In either case, any specific information you would like to redact (great word) could be easily done.
Thanks, folks, for your thoughts. I'm thinking along the lines of scanning and uploading, primarily so that other people would see an exact "Great Blue Shield-Cross Hills Insurance" document... with personal information redacted, naturally. (yup, great word)
And there would be clear warnings that people shouldn't upload any personal information.
