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Cathryn Wile

Global Healthcare - Disaster Response - Event Production - Entrepreneurship

Cathryn Wile is a dynamic professional who excels in entrepreneurial environments, values building relationships, and prioritizes learning from each experience. With a background in analyzing multi-billion dollar portfolios, supporting skilled work opportunities for Afghan women, leading disaster relief efforts, and managing tech projects for volunteer deployment during the COVID-19 pandemic, Cathryn's expertise spans a diverse range of fields. She has a strong belief in the importance of work-life balance and the value of gaining career skills outside traditional work settings. Her passion lies in small business development, strategic planning, event logistics, team building, and meticulous attention to detail.

Highlights

Oct 23 · linkedin

Can anyone else think of an industry where customers receive a service but have no idea what they'll be charged for weeks or months afterwards? And usually it's insanely out of whack for the service provided even though they are already paying for another service to pay for the first service if it's needed? Plus I have already paid taxes that fund the second system. Is it just me or are the American healthcare and insurance systems just wildly screwed up and corrupt? I am very fortunate that I am in good health, have insurance (even though it's useless as far as I can tell to this point), do not live paycheck to paycheck, and rarely have to navigate these systems, but every time I do they make me never want to seek out healthcare when I need it because the process is so miserable.

In the past 2 months:

  1. $60 for MinuteClinic visit to hopefully address a skin thing without having to navigate the healthcare system and find a derm who are usually booked 6 months out. "I don't know, you should go see a derm"
  2. $171 for an unnecessary 10 min derm visit to say "it's nothing." But it's a specialist visit and thus "only applied to my deductible" aka insurance pays nothing for it.
  3. $375 for the pleasure of spending 7 hours at Urgent Care to spend 15 minutes with a PA, receive 1 X ray to confirm that yes indeed I do have glass in my foot as I said I did...but that they could do nothing about it, and I would need to see a specialist.
  4. $400 for a 3 min visit to a doctor who told me he couldn't do anything in office, and I would need to schedule surgery.
  5. Thankfully I thought to ask MedStar Health and UnitedHealthcare insurance before going in what it would cost. $10,000+ !!!!!!!!!! But they really had no idea until they receive billing from the providers, and could I please talk to a different department/office etc. as none of them talk to one another nor do they know anything definitively, oh and by the way you'll be charged the $7,000 hospital visit in full before you come in tomorrow for your surgery.
  6. A dentist has removed 4 wisdom teeth from my head for less time, money, and aggravation, but a 1/4" splinter needs a $10,000 surgery....unreal.
  7. ON TOP of all of that, I have spent 18+ hours, yes I tracked it, trying to navigate this issue - 10+ trying to communicate with UnitedHealthcare and at least 4 different departments at MedStar Health to understand who I needed to talk to to find out how much I was going to be charged. Those 18+ hours are hours many people do not have time to spend or will cost them hundreds if not thousands of dollars of missed work.

Needless to say...I can live with a glass splinter in my foot for now. And for those interested, Jon Stewart does a great bit on the brokenness of our tax system & health insurance: https://lnkd.in/efcj6HER

Cathryn Wile
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Location

Washington, District of Columbia, United States