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You are either bull-****ting us, or your doctor is a shyster. You can get the high end Platinum level plan (low deductible , low out of pocket) insurance plan for a family of 7 in Minnesota for less than this ($1,200/month for one of my employees).
No BS here, I'll see if my wife still has the letter and scan it. That was an annual figure by the way (my mistake, I've corrected in my original post) AND it didn't include any care. He was an excellent Dr., very good spent a lot of time with his patients. Either way wouldn't have mattered, as our policy was canceled and he wasn't covered on our new plan.
My Mother and Step Father's Dr. did the same thing, the opted not to pay either.
Our Dr. implemented a $1,500 per year fee to be a patient. Directly called out he was adding fee due to ACA in his announcement mailing.
We opted not to pay it. In the end it didn't matter as our pre-ACA policy was canceled due to ACA and our pre-ACA care Dr. was no longer covered under our new policy. Both of which we were told we could keep by POTUS.
EDIT Changed annual to monthly.
This is called "Concierge Medicine" and is becoming more common. It allows the doctors to spend time with the patients that insurance won't pay for, so they don't have to run a cattle call and get more and more patients through the office.
[quote=toofache32;41491961]This is called "Concierge Medicine" and is becoming more common. It allows the doctors to spend time with the patients that insurance won't pay for, so they don't have to run a cattle call and get more and more patients through the office. These doctors are finally growing a backbone and standing up against a declining payment system that patients have long assumed get them free unlimited access to health care at all hours of the day and night.
Some doctors are opting out of the insurance game entirely and going to straight fee-for-service. A few years ago I saw a GP who did just that. He charged $70 a visit, and spent 60-90 minutes with me each time I went. He told me that he stopped taking insurance because it was just too expensive for him to maintain and because he hated being told how to treat his patients and having to spend only a few minutes with each person in order to see as many people as possible.
Some doctors are opting out of the insurance game entirely and going to straight fee-for-service. A few years ago I saw a GP who did just that. He charged $70 a visit, and spent 60-90 minutes with me each time I went. He told me that he stopped taking insurance because it was just too expensive for him to maintain and because he hated being told how to treat his patients and having to spend only a few minutes with each person in order to see as many people as possible.
Insurance companies do not dictate how people can be treated or how long they can be seen during an office visit. The doctor determines his/her own schedule unless they work for a large medical practice and there are other practices in place as to how many patients they have to see in a day and such.
Some doctors are opting out of the insurance game entirely and going to straight fee-for-service. A few years ago I saw a GP who did just that. He charged $70 a visit, and spent 60-90 minutes with me each time I went. He told me that he stopped taking insurance because it was just too expensive for him to maintain and because he hated being told how to treat his patients and having to spend only a few minutes with each person in order to see as many people as possible.
This is a free country and if a doctor makes a decision to stop taking insurance and practice concierge medicine that's fine with me.
I don't believe this trend is particularly threatening simply because there is a limited supply of patients who are willing/able to pay cash for medical treatment. If I am mistaken and it becomes a problem, we may have to look at some changes. I do believe we need to expand primary care in this country. We need more family practice physicians, more nurse practitioners, and more physician assistants. At the same time, we could probably make do with fewer specialist physicians or the same number we currently have.
I don't know what other people see in other parts of the country. Where I live, we seem to have it pretty good although I've been told there is supposedly a physician shortage in my state. Our insurance plan has always given us easy and prompt access to not only primary care, but to a large array of specialist physicians--many of whom I can see without a referral. Most of the people that I know report something quite similar.
Our family doctor doesn't take insurance. She utilizes the Ideal Micropractice model of care. Our family pays less then $100 per month for our membership and all visits are covered by this fee. Visits are never rushed, most have been an hour long. I can call or email my doctor directly when I have questions. I consider it money well spent and as a great alternative to using traditional health insurance for preventative and family medicine. Now if we could just have the option to buy a catastrophic plan again to compliment this we'd be set.
Insurance companies do not dictate how people can be treated or how long they can be seen during an office visit. The doctor determines his/her own schedule unless they work for a large medical practice and there are other practices in place as to how many patients they have to see in a day and such.
They do dictate treatment indirectly when they pay so low that a minimum number of patients has to be seen per hour to keep the lights on, so there is not enough time to address all problems thoroughly. Otherwise doctors have to start cutting corners. Which corners would you like cut?
They do dictate treatment indirectly when they pay so low that a minimum number of patients has to be seen per hour to keep the lights on, so there is not enough time to address all problems thoroughly. Otherwise doctors have to start cutting corners. Which corners would you like cut?
That is still an issue with the doctor. Negotiate a better rate, don't take an insurance plan that isn't going to pay what you want. You don't have to be in-network with any plan, but also keep in mind, most of your referrals come from being in the search engine for those plans. I certainly don't see doctors at the food shelf because they aren't making money. Plan coverage is 100% based on what the user buys for a plan, either via a group plan or individual. The insurance companies are mainly administrative.
I personally am quite happy with fee-for-service doctors, and I hope the trend toward this model continues. The GP I saw was free to prescribe whatever tests or treatments he felt were warranted in any situation. He was not bound by some insurance company's rules about what could or could not be billed. He was also open-minded about alternative and holistic treatments, because he personally had had a health challenge and had healed himself using those treatments. He was happy and jovial and personable, and I could tell he truly enjoyed connecting with his patients, his career as a doctor, and his role in helping people to heal.
I have been to doctors who were paid via insurance plans, and they were, without exception, gruff and rushed, overburdened/overworked, not interested and not paying attention, and not open to any treatment that was not on the "approved" list. That is only my experience, and merely one data point (and I am in no way generalizing this to all doctors everywhere), but IMO that is an effect insurance companies can have on the care doctors give. I think this is why more and more doctors are going to fee-for-service or concierge models of care.
Health insurance is one way of paying for health care. Thank goodness it's not the only way.
Last edited by noodlecat; 10-10-2015 at 11:11 AM..
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