Interesting even KC is having trouble. I was going to suggest you guys ought to come on down to the land of sunshine as we have little trouble here. Partly because we have a lot of old goats and lots of doctors know they have to take us if they want business. Still pitiful pay for a freaking MD is totally absurd. Maybe for a wet behind the ears intern, but I found a darned good one and think she deserves decent pay.
One thing I think I have noticed is a difference in willingness to work, based on type of insurance. Wife carries a plan G but I have one of the so-called medicare “advantage” plans that not only go by what the government says but by what insurance company allows.
My parents had a concierge doctor, he accepted insurance and Medicare but only had a limited number of patients, the fee he charged covered co-pays and deductibles. My parents liked the personal service and 24/7 access plus the PA or nurse would come to their house for anything that didn’t need the doctor. I think it cost $5,000 a year for both of them but they had no other out of pocket costs for health care.
And if he were only dropping Medicare patients, I wouldn’t be happy either. But my kid, who is decades away from Medicare, is also being dropped. Because he isn’t taking ANY insurance.
My parents doctor did and he had admitting privileges at several Phoenix area hospitals. He also had several specialists that gave expedited appointments to his patients. That was almost 10 years ago in Arizona.
I’m not sure. It likely does. But for someone my age, it’s $100 per month. If I get referred to a specialist, I’m going to need regular insurance. Even with a high deductible plan, I see my primary care doctor twice a year., and the negotiated rate from my insurance was about $100 per visit. I have never been one to go see the doctor at the first signs of a cold, so I just don’t see a benefit for me. I still would have to have prescription insurance, since one of my meds retails for over $800 and while they offer “wholesale prices”, the wholesale price of this med is about $550. With my insurance, I pay $47.
For me, this looks like something for people who might want to try to avoid an ER during flu season since you can likely get in to see your regular doctor sooner. But again, The only time I go to the ER is if I’ve go some sort of injury, not the flu. This is from his website describing the service.
And again,this is for ALL patients, not just Medicare patients.
Or, it may be a way for those of us on Medicare to find a doctor accepting new Medicare patients and one willing to spend time with the patients. We’ve are getting dissatisfied with the clinic we’ve been using and thinking about concierge.
OH…I like my doctor. But I can’t justify $1200 per year for one doctor when I only go a couple of times a year. I didn’t even have 12 follow up visits after I got hit by a car.
Medicare Advantage reimbursements to physicians are no better. The models work because Advantage plans, like other HMOs, make it very difficult to access care. Trust me, few decent physicians WANT to be employees of any sort of HMOs.
The last one I tried to offer cash under the table to make it worth their while. Said they were scared doing that as the gooberment could take their licenses. The government creates the shortage via price controls, then punishes people who only try to satisfy market demand. When will you leftist clowns ever understand economics?
If you knew the hassles of filing insurance claims and collecting for rejected claims for small procedures, you wouldn’t either. Insurance billing adds so much to the cost of health care. Better to pay it and be done with it. My retired internist charged a flat $75 for an office visit. That won’t break anyone.