There are 37 comments.

1. Contributor
   Susan Quinn

   @SusanQuinn

   Post author

   12:40 PM EDT ⋅ Aug 20, 2020

   AS others have mentioned, it’s occasional, @ronselander. My experience is that it’s rare.

2. Thatcher
   RushBabe49

   @RushBabe49

   1:03 PM EDT ⋅ Aug 20, 2020

   Susan Quinn (View Comment):

   RushBabe49 (View Comment):

   Contact? Contract?

   I looked at the title a half dozen times and didn’t see the typo until just now, even after your comment, @rushbabe49! I’ve asked Bethany or Jon to please correct it, at least in the title. (I typed it wrong in the body, too.) Sheesh.

   About-to-be-retired industrial buyer seeks position as proofreader.  I can’t help it, I just call them when I see them.

3. Contributor
   Susan Quinn

   @SusanQuinn

   Post author

   1:09 PM EDT ⋅ Aug 20, 2020

   RushBabe49 (View Comment):

   Susan Quinn (View Comment):

   RushBabe49 (View Comment):

   Contact? Contract?

   I looked at the title a half dozen times and didn’t see the typo until just now, even after your comment, @rushbabe49! I’ve asked Bethany or Jon to please correct it, at least in the title. (I typed it wrong in the body, too.) Sheesh.

   About-to-be-retired industrial buyer seeks position as proofreader. I can’t help it, I just call them when I see them.

   Oh, rub it in, smarty-pants. I used to be a proofreader, too. ;-)

4. Member
   JustmeinAZ

   @JustmeinAZ

   1:49 PM EDT ⋅ Aug 20, 2020

   Ron Selander (View Comment):

   Since when does Medicare use e-mail – or telephone “outreach” ??

   Yeah, I was wondering that too. If I got one of those calls I would most likely block the number as a scam call.

5. Coolidge
   Headedwest

   @Headedwest

   2:14 PM EDT ⋅ Aug 20, 2020

   Ron Selander (View Comment):

   Since when does Medicare use e-mail – or telephone “outreach” ??

   Medicare doesn’t, but when you have a Medicare Advantage plan (UHC, etc.), they call a lot to get you to agree to a house call.

   Here is the explanation.

   Dr. Michael McWilliams suggested an answer. As an associate professor of health policy at Harvard Medical School, he understands the arcane regulations that cover how Medicare reimburses my Medicare Advantage plan for the care I get. He told me that each of us covered by these plans is assigned a risk score. As we develop more health problems, our risk score increases. “The home visits conducted by Medicare Advantage plans allow for the capture of more diagnoses, which in turn increases the risk score that adjusts plan payments from Medicare.  Generally speaking, the more diagnoses recorded, the higher the payment,” Dr. Williams says.

6. Member
   Paul Stinchfield

   @PaulStinchfield

   

   5:17 PM EDT ⋅ Aug 20, 2020

   Ron Selander (View Comment):

   Since when does Medicare use e-mail – or telephone “outreach” ??

   If you sign up online they have your email address, and they will use it to send you regular informational emails (“how to fight Medicare fraud and protect your identity”, “what older adults need to know”, “do you know your blood pressure numbers?”, and of course COVID, COVID, COVID.)

7. Coolidge
   Roderic

   @rhfabian

   5:57 AM EDT ⋅ Aug 21, 2020

   Susan Quinn (View Comment):

   Roderic (View Comment):

   Contract tracing is one of the least intrusive and disruptive methods of controlling the spread of infectious disease. It doesn’t disrupt the economy, for example, in that it doesn’t involve shutdowns. It’s the most targeted method we have for controlling the disease. South Korea credits it with its success in rapidly and effectively getting the pandemic under control there. They have had 6 deaths per 1 million population since the pandemic started compared to the USA with 533 deaths per 1 million.

   Conservatives do not cover themselves with glory when they oppose every reasonable public health measure. Just because the government orders it does not always make it bad.

   I don’t oppose it just because it’s from the government, although that’s a good reason. I oppose it because South Korea began it long ago. We are too late into the process to be able to apply it successfully.

   Contact tracing in the US would be most effective in low prevalence areas.  New York was hit hard, but now the prevalence is much lower, and contact tracing should be helpful in preventing or mitigating a second wave without further harming the economy.   There are lots of areas that were and remain low prevalence.

   Also, when you add up all the costs of a shutdown in terms of the economy, real estate, suicides, etc., contact tracing is a tiny fraction of the cost.