Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Friends + Healthcare

Most of my close girl friends are in the health care field.  My best friend is a Human Resources Generalist at an acute care hospital.  Another friend is a credentialing specialist for a huge physician group.  And two other close friends work for Florida Hospital; one is an assistant to the Residency Director and the other is a Human Resources Assistant.

The topic of discussion during girls-night-out is usually about work but try to make a conscious effort to leave work at work and chat about our personal lives.  I think we all enjoy hearing about each others’ roles and the significance our roles have within the organization.  We are all fairly young and for most of them, their current job is their first within the field.  We all know a little bit about a lot and end up teaching and learning from each other.  The healthcare field is huge and it is interesting to find out from my peers what other opportunities are available within the same scope of practice.

On the other hand, my boyfriend and many of my guy friends work various jobs outside of healthcare and know close to nothing about the field.  When around me, they seem to think I have all the answers to all things health.  They ask me all kinds of questions varying from the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to money withheld from their paycheck for benefits.  It is fun to have their discussions to educate but a lot of times I do not have all the answers and find myself online doing my own little research projects.  I like to learn more so that I can answer their questions with correct and educated answers.  By sharing my knowledge and interest in the field it has them feeling more welcome to ask more questions and sometimes even research on their own.  

Because I am in Managed Care contracting, I have one friend that constantly asks me about his health insurance plan.  He is covered by UnitedHealthcare which has one of the biggest and [because of the size] best networks.  The company offers great benefits to their members regardless of their policy.  The online tools are available to all of their members which include preventative care tips, informative videos, healthy dieting and exercise advice and much, much more.  He recently told me how much money they take from each paycheck and he was considering cancelling it for now since he is a health, low-risk 26-year-old athletic male.  I encouraged him to keep it at least until the final rollout of the ACA to see if there will be better options for him to switch to as opposed to just dropping his plan completely.  He shares the same sentiment as many healthy, active young adults but health insurance has become such a luxury today that I encourage all to keep their coverage while it's being offered.  While he is paying for the coverage, I suggested he take advantage of the benefits.  He should be going to his doctor of annual physicals, blood work, and immunizations.  I do not know the span of his coverage but I do know that he wears glass and has a heart murmur.  Those 2 conditions alone should be enough encouragement for him to keep the plan so I am hoping he does.

Healthcare is more than what I study.  I am always interested in learning more about the field.  I enjoy spreading my little bit of knowledge on a bunch of different healthcare topics with other whom maybe be less interested but more-so just curious.

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