Category: Health

Same stuff, different year

Every year since my husband took his current job, I’ve had to ask the same question: will Blue Cross Blue Shield and Southwestern Health Resources come to terms in a timely fashion? Southwestern Health Resources is the biggest hospital/care provider in town, covering the University of Texas Southwestern system and the Texas Health system (known locally as “Presby”). It’s where almost all of my health care, including my cancer care comes from. And guess who provides our insurance?

The last time they played this game, BCBS put UTSW and Presby out of network for close to a month. We got letters advising us to find new doctors because our current doctors were out of network, though they arrived after BCBS had made their deal. I don’t know that the dispute will go that far this year. Presby doesn’t think so, because I have my semiannual checkup coming up in a week and they’re behaving like I’m insured and in-network. If I have to pay up, then I’ll know we’re in for a longer fight.

It’ll all sort out in the end. I’m generally with the doctors over the insurance company; doctors need to spend more time with patients and worry less about meeting artificial quotas than the insurance company would like. That said, I can’t imagine they won’t come to terms, just with a lot of stress for everybody in the meantime. And isn’t stress something we could all do with more of?

ETA on April 3: Apparently my insurance, while it is BCBS, is not through the Texas branch and my doctor’s office thinks I’m not affected. One less thing to worry about.

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The plague years

The spread of measles in Texas has been on everyone’s mind since the first case showed up in Gaines County. This week, we’ve had three developments, all of which are trouble.

First, measles may have spread from west Texas to central Texas, specifically San Antonio. Someone from Gaines County toured UT San Antonio and ate and hung out at locations in town. I found this out just after we got back from Austin; the number of times we took day trips down there when we lived in Austin has been much on our minds this week. Health authorities think the possible contact got measles after the San Antonio trip but they’re being proactive.

Second, tragically, one of the unvaccinated kids in the Gaines County outbreak has died. It’s the first measles death in a decade. Unfortunately it’s probably not going to be the last.

Third, and most relevant for Dallas area folks, we now have a confirmed measles case in Rockwall County, on the eastern end of the Metroplex. It’s not believed to be connected to the Gaines County cases, either.

Measles is highly contagious. If you’re not vaccinated, get to your doctor or health clinic. Older folks should also check with their doctors about being boosted; in the 1970s and 1980s doctors only gave one MMR (measles/mumps/rubella) vaccine and now the schedule calls for two doses. I already had a message in the system to my GP about possibly getting a booster. I’ll be elevating that to a phone call when the office opens.

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Bird flu is coming

One of the long-running stories I’ve been following over the last year is the spread of H5N1 (bird flu). I initially noticed it because we were having trouble with dairy herds in North Texas and there were some articles in the local and state press about it. There was some talk of it jumping to cats and to humans, but nobody had died of it.

That has now changed. The first bird flu death happened this week in Louisiana. News reports say he was over 65 and had underlying conditions, which is supposed to relieve the public but honestly scares me. Most of us have underlying conditions these days; I have several. If you take meds for any chronic health problem, congratulations: you’re on the less valuable list of people who can die without alarming the masses.

As a person with a chronic illness, I’m well aware that COVID isn’t over. I have a large enough circle of in-person and online friends that I get regular reports of folks who are getting the current strain even after they’ve had previous rounds. I also know a number of people who’ve had aftereffects that range from the mild to the completely debilitating. We don’t do enough in America, and certainly not in North Texas, to protect folks from COVID. That we’re starting to see people die from H5N1 and not taking measures to protect ourselves is terrifying, especially with an anti-vaccine Health and Human Services Secretary about to be nominated by the new administration. It’s only a matter of time before we get human-to-human transmission, and we could get back to where we were in March 2020 but without the will to lock down all too easily.

I’m also selfishly scared for cats. My cats are indoor-only, don’t drink raw milk, and don’t eat raw food. But I’m going to be very careful about touching any outdoor cats and potentially bringing deadly germs home to them.