left hand, let me introduce you to the right hand

[cellio]

As I gather is increasingly common in larger US companies, my employer tries to entice people to actually get annual bloodwork by offering a discount on insurance to people who cough up some basic stats -- cholesterol, blood pressure, blood sugar, and a couple other things. (Assurances of confidentiality are made; cost-benefit analysis is left to the employee.) I had a physical recently, so I collected the data in case I want to use it later.

I noticed, after the call from my doctor's office, that he hadn't given me one of the required numbers, so I called back to get it. Oh no, he said, we don't routinely test blood sugar any more, because insurance companies don't cover it as part of preventative care. So he'd have had to charge me for that, and since I didn't present any relevant symptoms he didn't pursue it. I hadn't specifically asked about it up front, so I'm not faulting him for this.

But let me see if I understand this: my employer's health insurance will not pay for a test that my employer's benefits department wants me to obtain. Er, right.

I pointed out this gap to a coworker, who said that as these things go, this is one of the easiest problems to solve on your own: find a diabetic friend and ask to borrow a glucose meter. Yeah, I guess that could work. I can also (since I don't work at the main office) order a do-it-yourself test kit at no charge, but I begrudge the extra hassle (and needle-stick) when my physical was supposed to take care of this already.

But that's all assuming I'm willing to share this data. I haven't decided about that yet; it's a little creepy, and I might be willing to pay a slightly-higher price to retain that bit of privacy. Really, why do they need to know? Wouldn't a receipt from my doctor saying "yeah, saw her this year" be enough?

Comments

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

I very much hear you.

[indigodove.livejournal.com]

That seems a bit intrusive and creepy to me, too. I also feel for people who maybe don't want to supply this data, but can't afford to pay a higher price for their privacy.

[fauxklore]

Actually, testing with a glucose meter is not sufficient. You want an A1C test, that does averaging of blood sugar over a few months, not a single data point.

[cellio]

Huh, ok. The test that used to be part of an annual physical, and was what they did at the on-site "get your stats so you can pay less for insurance" clinics at my last employer, is based on a single draw. So I guess not as accurate but uniformly not as accurate?