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Since we're on the topic of medical care:

When I went to my allergy doctor yesterday and asked when we could
run the food allergy panel again to see how I was doing, he let me know that
the test I had done in December for $85 was now $250!!!!!!  He was
thoroughly disgusted and outraged.  He told me that Great Smokies
Lab (North Carolina) bought National Biotech Lab (Seattle) and
promptly tripled the price of that test.  According to him, Medicare
will pay up to $250 for a food allergy panel.  See the connection????
His staff was distressed, also, having received only a few days' notice
of this change and after they had been telling patients scheduled for
tests in the coming weeks that it was only $85.  I think this is outrageous.
It's just one way that Medicare, combined with medical businesses
who want to make the most $$, can raise a price to make it extremely
expensive for those who don't have Medicare.  So I see this as one more
barrier prevently people who have food allergies from finding out about
them and healing themselves through diet.

Lucky for me, my doctor knows of other labs who can test for specifc
food allergens so that we can see how I'm progressing.  And I appreciate
the fact that he IS concerned about the costs of these tests.

Nancy