My new primary care doctor is a concierge doctor. He's paid by me, directly, at a reasonable $115 monthly.
My new primary care doctor is a concierge doctor. He’s paid by me, directly, at a reasonable $115 monthly.

Concierge doctor shows way to lower healthcare costs

By Tom Purcell

My new primary care doctor is a concierge doctor. Much like small-town doctors years ago, he isn’t paid by a third-party insurance firm. He’s paid by me, directly, at a reasonable $115 monthly.

If I get a cold, sprain an ankle, or have any kind of issue, he’s a phone call, email, or text message away. He isn’t just a doctor. He’s a knowledgeable collaborator guiding me to my very best health.

He’s saving me a lot of money by guiding me to other cash-only services. I paid about $100 for a CT heart scan, $150 for a detailed scan of my arteries and bones, and another $100 to a large clinical laboratory for an exhaustive review of my blood (cholesterol, etc.) that would have cost hundreds if I’d attempted to pay the lab directly.

For $350, I was able to have a thorough evaluation of my body, and discover it’s in pretty good shape, which is something everyone 50 or older should be able to do. As physicals go, it was the most thorough I’d ever gotten.

More doctors are going the concierge route, to their benefit and patients’ benefit alike. They’re doing so because our health-insurance system is a giant mess — a giant cost mess, to be precise.

As a self-employed writer, I’ve seen my premiums soar. My “bronze” policy cost me nearly $500 a month, and I had to pay the first $6,000 in costs before the insurance kicked in. Millions who purchase individual insurance have experienced similar pain.

So I dropped the health-insurance policy and weaved together a different strategy.

First, to protect against a catastrophic incident, I joined a Christian health-cost-sharing service. Such services are growing in popularity. The “Gold Plan” costs $150 monthly. If I need hospital care, I pay the first $500, then the service negotiates the rest of the tab with the hospital. Its 400,000 members pay monthly to share medical bills.

This is not health insurance. It has limitations and doesn’t cover costs for “non-Christian” behaviors, such as alcohol abuse or drug use. Note that many scammers come out of the woodwork this time of the year, so do your homework.

During open enrollment this year, I’m also reviewing low-cost, high-deductible catastrophic health-insurance options made available by the Trump administration. I may replace the Christian plan with a catastrophic insurance plan.

To round out my healthcare strategy, I purchased two insurance policies that will pay me a nice chunk of cash if I suffer a debilitating injury and cannot work or if I’m hospitalized. These policies, in addition to the health-cost-sharing service, should cover my bills if something bad happens.

In any event, my total monthly cost for my concierge doctor, health-cost-sharing service. and insurance policies is just north of $300. I’d prefer an affordable, low-deductible “Cadillac” policy like I had six or seven years ago, but no such policies exist.

Regrettably, cost is the biggest healthcare issue. Reforms are badly needed, but none are on the immediate horizon. That leaves millions to string together novel healthcare strategies, as I have attempted to do, turning to concierge doctors who can help us navigate health care’s high cost.

The viewpoints expressed above are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The Independent.

How to submit an article, guest opinion piece, or letter to the editor to The Independent

Do you have something to say? Want your voice to be heard by thousands of readers? Send The Independent your letter to the editor or guest opinion piece. All submissions will be considered for publication by our editorial staff. If your letter or editorial is accepted, it will run on suindependent.com, and we’ll promote it through all of our social media channels. We may even decide to include it in our monthly print edition. Just follow our simple submission guidelines and make your voice heard:

—Submissions should be between 300 and 1,500 words.

—Submissions must be sent to editor@infowest.com as a .doc, .docx, .txt, or .rtf file.

—The subject line of the email containing your submission should read “Letter to the editor.”

—Attach your name to both the email and the document file (we don’t run anonymous letters).

—If you have a photo or image you’d like us to use and it’s in .jpg format, at least 1200 X 754 pixels large, and your intellectual property (you own the copyright), feel free to attach it as well, though we reserve the right to choose a different image.

—If you are on Twitter and would like a shout-out when your piece or letter is published, include that in your correspondence and we’ll give you a mention at the time of publication.

Articles related to “Concierge doctor shows way to lower healthcare costs”

Click This Ad

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here