How much to charge for pill?

[Carol Orr]

I live in Minnesota where alternative medicine practice is legal and you don't
need a liscense to practice. I take care of my mother and use homeopathy on
her. The state is going to up her monthly premium to them by a significant
amount because she seems to have no medical bills. So I need to "charge" my
mother for the homeopathic pills that i give her. What is a reasonable charge
for one dose?

[Shannon Nelson]

You may not be able to make a charge to your mother--at least I recall a friend had this problem years back in California, treating his wife (which was *extensive* and urgent, and he's a DC, but was told nope, you can't get reimbursed for treating a family member. Weird...)

If you can charge, tho--even on paper--the charge should appropriately cover your *time* too, not just the pills. Good luck figuring *that* out! But you could just try to figure out how many "appointments" the process would have broken down into, if you *were* having someone else prescribe for her? (Congratulations, by the way--what a nice dilemma!)

Shannon

[Lucy De Pieri]

Do you have a different last name then your wife? If so that perhaps would work
... just a thought
Lucy
________________________________

From: Shannon Nelson
To: minutus@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wed, January 27, 2010 5:37:30 AM
Subject: Re: [Minutus] How much to charge for pill?
You may not be able to make a charge to your mother--at least I recall a friend had this problem years back in California, treating his wife (which was *extensive* and urgent, and he's a DC, but was told nope, you can't get reimbursed for treating a family member. Weird...)
If you can charge, tho--even on paper--the charge should appropriately cover your *time* too, not just the pills. Good luck figuring *that* out! But you could just try to figure out how many "appointments" the process would have broken down into, if you *were* having someone else prescribe for her? (Congratulations, by the way--what a nice dilemma!)

Shannon

[Dale Moss]

I must add my two cents' worth. As I am approaching the age of qualifying for Medicare, my husband and I have started researching the options open to us. I had no intention of signing up for the prescription component as I take no meds. But it turns out the USG wants everyone in the pool, so you're penalized if you DON'T join. This is no different than a mandate, and it's imposing on us a model of "healthcare" we don't like. This is a political issue.
Carol, I hope you make a stink about it! Lots of letters, op-ed pieces for your local paper, etc. Why should your mom pay higher premiums for a service she's not using? Why should she be socked for NOT burdening the system?
Peace,
Dale

[Tanya Marquette]

do you have an cohort in the vacinity of your mother? have them write up bills for service and 'medication.'
paperwork is what they want to see and you can produce it.
tanya

[John Harvey]

It's common for governments to refuse financial recognition of services performed for a family member. It's less common for a government to encourage unnecessary consumption of resources by penalising those insufficiently participating in a monopoly. Countering institutional fraud with personal fraud isn't, I fear, a solution, and I'm surprised to see it suggested here. In addition, the cost of homoeopathic medicines is, as we all know, insignificant. The matter that must be tackled is, as Dale suggests, the political corruption that penalises those who do not sufficiently engage in consumption of the monopoly on offer; and this can be tackled only openly and publicly, rather than through isolated efforts to qualify for the benefits that the monopoly offers by falsifying consumption of its services. It is the quiet institution of monopoly that is at fault, and confronting that as a community is unavoidably necessary to the restoration of informed medical choice.

Cheers --

John
2010/1/28 Tanya Marquette >
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"There is nothing more dangerous than blind passion in science. This is a direct path to unjustified self-confidence, to loss of self-criticalness, to scientific fanaticism, to false science. Given support from someone in power, it can lead to suppression of true science and, since science is now a matter of state importance, to inflicting great injury on the country."

-- N.N. Semyonov, Science Does Not Tolerate Subjectivism. Science and Life 1965;4:38