I was stupid enough to sign up for their SmartGut program. They never clearly disclose how much the test costs if you opt to use your insurance. They’re $2700. Not only that, they make it seem like you purchased 6 tests, but the $2700 charge is per test. Their billing practices are questionable, at least from the perspective of the consumer. On the BBB page for uBiome tons of people are complaining. While I can afford the surprise charge, I feel bad for the many that surely cannot.
They promised to only take what your insurance paid and not bill you any remainder. My insurance refused one and paid another. They ate the first one. But it's a ridiculous amount to bill my insurance so i didn't do anymore. They got shady when they started sending emails where just by clicking they would "resequence" your sample.
Interesting. That make sense but is very counterintuitive.
I've always wondered why a lab has been hounding me to pay a $5 bill when insurance paid them like 99% of the bill. (I refuse to pay them because they only take check via mail--I've offered credit card, PayPal, venmo, et cetera...hoping to make things better for the next person). This explains why they care about getting paid the $5--so they can't be accused of insurance fraud. Anyway, this is just more evidence of how our whole health insurance industry needs a big refactor/replace.
I did uBiome a couple of years ago, paying out of pocket ~$100-$200 or so for a kit. It was ahead of its time and I think it could have a very bright future.
At the time the it was overhyping the present-day usefulness of the data but wasn't lying about it, similar to 23andMe. I'm hoping this is a 23andMe-like incident and not a Theranos, where the latter I guess blatantly lied about the accuracy of its tests. IMO (I occasionally work with microbiome data in our bioinformatics lab), your microbiome data today is nearly useless but will be indispensable in the future as the technology improves, and we need early adopters to use services like uBiome to get there.
I know nothing about uBiome's newer more expensive products and/or how they bill insurance companies. I hope they're not doing anything illegal there, or if there is a simple settlement that can be reached a la 23andMe's FDA case. I can't imagine they are doing anything more unethical than anyone else in the health insurance industry, which IMO is rotten to the core (I just saw my friend's insurance bill for a normal healthy birth + 2day stay at a hospital in SF for over $60,000 before insurance).
Reimbursement is everything in the healthcare industry and the gov't loves to lay the smack down on companies who play fast and loose with the billing rules, particularly if Medicare or Medicaid is involved.
Yes, your friend's hospital bill is ridiculous, but that's doesn't mean it was fraudulent. If uBiome is breaking the rules, they are going to be severely punished.
Anyone else notice the "DCIS Police" on the cops shirt?
DCIS protects military personnel by investigating cases of fraud, bribery, and corruption; preventing the illegal transfer of sensitive defense technologies to proscribed nations and criminal elements; investigating companies that use defective, substandard, or counterfeit parts in weapons systems and equipment utilized by the military; and stopping cyber crimes and computer intrusions.
Priorities: Health care fraud committed by providers that involves (a) quality of care, unnecessary care, or failure to provide care to Tricare‐eligible service members, retirees, dependents, or survivors; or (b) significant direct loss to DoD's Tricare Management Activity.[1]
Maybe they just needed help with the raid and DCIS was available? Or maybe uBiome was ripping of gov't insurers?
DCIS explicitly, from the same source, is responsible for investigating, among other things:
”Health care fraud committed by providers that involves (a) quality of care, unnecessary care, or failure to provide care to Tricare‐eligible service members, retirees, dependents, or survivors; or (b) significant direct loss to DoD's Tricare Management Activity.”
Given the general concerns about UBiome, that responsibility has to be why DCIS is involved.
So who are the board members who signed off on its current business plan? Don't see anything on the site about the corporate board, just the SAB. The Crunchbase list (https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/ubiome/advisors/curr...) seems outdated in light of the funding it has received from Andreessen, OS Fund, and 8 VC.
My gut bacteria was destroyed by antibiotics plus after my latest round I ended up with the c-dif toxin that can be fatal. My microbiome results were so important in getting my gut bacteria recovered and taking the right probiotics to do it. So, anyone saying the results are useless obviously never saw a set of them. I’m disappointed that this has happened because I was just starting to get my gut bacteria in line through good diet and probiotics. No snake or essential oils necessary! (Puts crystals away and looks at that poster with sarcasm!).
uBiome was mostly selling pseudoscience to engineers (who should know better) and the essential oils crowd. Once you have the data you have to do something meaningful with it. For most uBiome users that means heading to YouTube to figure out which guru they are going to follow.
The FBI engaged in similar militarized theater for the recent arrest of Roger Stone. Dozens of armored SWAT officers, automatic rifles, and a CNN war correspondent van parked outside - all to arrest a solitary man sleeping his pajamas.
For historical context, this trend is due to the pendulum swinging back too far in reaction to the Miami FBI shootout [1], where officers were woefully outgunned.
When you're approaching someone who is armed, it's generally considered unsafe to surprise them in such a way it's impossible for them to know who you are and threaten their life.
Possessing a firearm and handling it responsibly should not be justification for a massive pre-dawn raid. Especially when the target has no violent record, worked at and later cooperated with multiple federal agencies, and was a regular guest of the White House for decades without incident.
There was no evidence that the officers making the arrest would be at inordinate risk.
If I was an FBI agent tasked with apprehending a suspect and I knew that the suspect had access to firearms and had "predicted" violent insurrection I would likely have taken the same precautions they did.
It needlessly moves the discussion into partisan territory. Although, to be fair, it does not invoke the litany of conspiracy theories/fake outrage around that arrest, acknowledges that it is standard procedure, and explains the background.
It would probably be better to explicitly mention that such police procedures are employed against thousands of non-violent people very year, that there is persistent racial bias in large parts of the judicial system, and that one should be so lucky to be protected from the worst by being a major figure of public interest and having camera teams present.
By that vacuous logic, you should be armed to the teeth any time you get back home. Because there’s no absolute certainty that your spouse has not been abducted by aliens and replaced with an almost-exact replica that will kill you the second you turn your back.
It’s called reductio ad absurdum. Your argument is, basically, that one should not disregard the possibility of some foosball-steeled accountants pulling a gun, no matter how low it is. I extended this argument to an even less likely scenario to show its absurdity.
You’re now back to arguing over specific probabilities, proving my point.
Also, you knew all this, and are arguing in bad faith.
Most of these corporate types have never even held a gun. If FBI guy comes in in a shirt and tie and asks “what’s the file server password” the IT guy says “I don’t have to tell you that.” If the guy is in tactical gear IT guy coughs it up instantly.
Thank god for the FBI, honestly the amount of grey area and practices is out of control. I hope a few more valley startups are raided. Classpass being one, for not letting me cancel and then still billing while they said they were not. Go FBI!!! We need you.
This sounds like insurance fraud. [0]
[0] https://www.ajmc.com/contributor/andria-jacobs-rn-ms-cen-cph...
I've always wondered why a lab has been hounding me to pay a $5 bill when insurance paid them like 99% of the bill. (I refuse to pay them because they only take check via mail--I've offered credit card, PayPal, venmo, et cetera...hoping to make things better for the next person). This explains why they care about getting paid the $5--so they can't be accused of insurance fraud. Anyway, this is just more evidence of how our whole health insurance industry needs a big refactor/replace.
At the time the it was overhyping the present-day usefulness of the data but wasn't lying about it, similar to 23andMe. I'm hoping this is a 23andMe-like incident and not a Theranos, where the latter I guess blatantly lied about the accuracy of its tests. IMO (I occasionally work with microbiome data in our bioinformatics lab), your microbiome data today is nearly useless but will be indispensable in the future as the technology improves, and we need early adopters to use services like uBiome to get there.
I know nothing about uBiome's newer more expensive products and/or how they bill insurance companies. I hope they're not doing anything illegal there, or if there is a simple settlement that can be reached a la 23andMe's FDA case. I can't imagine they are doing anything more unethical than anyone else in the health insurance industry, which IMO is rotten to the core (I just saw my friend's insurance bill for a normal healthy birth + 2day stay at a hospital in SF for over $60,000 before insurance).
Yes, your friend's hospital bill is ridiculous, but that's doesn't mean it was fraudulent. If uBiome is breaking the rules, they are going to be severely punished.
DCIS protects military personnel by investigating cases of fraud, bribery, and corruption; preventing the illegal transfer of sensitive defense technologies to proscribed nations and criminal elements; investigating companies that use defective, substandard, or counterfeit parts in weapons systems and equipment utilized by the military; and stopping cyber crimes and computer intrusions.
Priorities: Health care fraud committed by providers that involves (a) quality of care, unnecessary care, or failure to provide care to Tricare‐eligible service members, retirees, dependents, or survivors; or (b) significant direct loss to DoD's Tricare Management Activity.[1]
Maybe they just needed help with the raid and DCIS was available? Or maybe uBiome was ripping of gov't insurers?
[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defense_Criminal_Investigative...
”Health care fraud committed by providers that involves (a) quality of care, unnecessary care, or failure to provide care to Tricare‐eligible service members, retirees, dependents, or survivors; or (b) significant direct loss to DoD's Tricare Management Activity.”
Given the general concerns about UBiome, that responsibility has to be why DCIS is involved.
For historical context, this trend is due to the pendulum swinging back too far in reaction to the Miami FBI shootout [1], where officers were woefully outgunned.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1986_FBI_Miami_shootout
There was no evidence that the officers making the arrest would be at inordinate risk.
It would probably be better to explicitly mention that such police procedures are employed against thousands of non-violent people very year, that there is persistent racial bias in large parts of the judicial system, and that one should be so lucky to be protected from the worst by being a major figure of public interest and having camera teams present.
You’re now back to arguing over specific probabilities, proving my point.
Also, you knew all this, and are arguing in bad faith.