As a freelance writer and content producer, I talk to patients at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. Now I need to talk about myself.
My family is losing their health insurance coverage at Children’s because the hospital is unable to sign a contract with Dayton-based health insurance company CareSource Ohio. We have purchased CareSource Marketplace insurance from the Ohio Marketplace for the past 7 years. Each year, I chose CareSource because I have two young children.
This change, which begins on August 1, does not affect the Medicaid version of insurance. Affects only those who purchased through Healthcare.gov. With the withdrawal of CareSource, there are no market plans for Cincinnati Children to join the network.
As a result, about 1,000 families like me are now virtually cut off from care with Cincinnati Children. This is clearly the only place in the area to receive the most professional pediatric care.
Do you know how many videos I have made? The main message is patient-centric care available at Children’s. How family members and healthcare providers speak. It’s almost religious. And that’s true. Everyone related to Children’s I met was exemplary. My own experience with children was extraordinary.
In fact, the first thing we see on their homepage is, “We are here for every family, every child, every future.”
But apparently, when money is at the table, “all families” are negotiable and all messages around the world about patient-centric care just go out of the window.
Is it due to CareSource? Is it because of Cincinnati Children? Is one party overly greedy? Is anyone using it? There is a theory everywhere I use it on Facebook. A group of moms in my neighborhood are burning with anger. But as the average consumer of healthcare, I have no idea.
I know that Cincinnati Children is ranked third among children’s hospitals nationwide. According to reports on their site, total operating revenue for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2021 was approximately $ 2.75 billion, expenses were approximately $ 2.5 billion, and the remaining revenue was approximately $ 2.2 billion. When I work with other children’s hospitals in the country (I write and produce some content), many are trying to compete with Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, but their It can’t be compared to money. Are Cincinnati Children’s Hospitals More Expensive and Demanding Higher Reimbursement Rates? Or is CareSource a money-hungry insurance company?
Do you know? None are transparent. The CareSource Marketplace family only gets issues, not answers. None of the decision makers on the matter seem to care about us. We are consumables and it is the cost of doing business.
You may be thinking, just get new insurance, lady. Well, as I’ve been doing for 20 years, if you’re self-employed, your options are limited. I love my job and I am good at it, so I live a wonderful life. But health insurance has always been an asterisk in all of them. Healthcare.gov was a heavenly blessing for our family. My husband is a full-time housewife and works part-time. (The reasons are too complicated to list here, but believe me when I say it is the best choice for the health of our family.)
We have used the Cincinnati Children’s Service many times over the last decade. Her husband and I took an ADHD parenting class there. One of my kids saw a therapist based in a kids’ school. The same child meets a neurologist who helps manage Tourette’s and OCD. My other child recently repaired a fracture at an orthopedic clinic.
Still, my family is one of the lucky ones. The story I’m reading about other affected families-children with complex problems that require continuous care, or children who have a bond with a therapist-is devastating.
Moreover, if your child needs special care, you can’t really choose where to go in southwestern Ohio. Adult hospitals do not want to touch on pediatric cases. Pediatricians refer directly to pediatrics. The hospital is virtually monopolized. I have never seen it as a problem. Because when you have the best in the backyard, why do you need to go somewhere else?
But now there is a gate around it. I can look up and talk about amazing patients. But if you want to take your child there, I need to be prepared to pay from my pocket. I think the kids will ask me to tell the story.
Judi Ketteler (@judiketteler) is a columnist for Cincinnati Magazine, who creates healthcare content. She is also the author of “Do I Lie to You? The Amazing Power of Honesty in the Lie World”.
