Quote:LOL, it really hurts to know that the system you champion has been having an uptick based on a system you hate, huh?  I'm just pointing out the facts, unbiased facts.  It's just a bonus that it stings you...   :thumbsup:

 

As promised:

 

 

<p style="font-size:1.05em;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;text-align:justify;background-color:rgb(213,214,215);">The 2010 health law, which requires that most people have insurance, identifies direct primary care as an acceptable option. Because it doesn’t cover specialists or emergencies, consumers need a high-deductible health plan as well. Still, the combined cost of the monthly fee and that plan is often still cheaper than traditional insurance.

<p style="font-size:1.05em;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;text-align:justify;background-color:rgb(213,214,215);">The health law’s language was “sort of [an] ‘open-for-business’ sign,” said Jay Keese, a lobbyist who heads the Direct Primary Care Coalition. Before 2010, between six and 20 direct primary care practices existed across the country. Now, there are more than 400 group practices.

 

http://blog.riskmanagers.us/?p=20751

 

 

"Concierge medicine’s perceived advantages will only grow in the coming years, experts say, as the traditional health-care system becomes even more strained. The full implementation of the Affordable Care Act next year is expected to bring more than 20 million formerly uninsured patients into the health-care system through 2022, exacerbating an existing physician shortage."

 

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-con...2013-01-17

 

 

“Everything in our system today — and this has changed a bit which is one of the positive developments of the ACA — historically has been about sick care,” Jorgensen said. “The driving event is that the patient feels sick and goes to the doctor. The goals of the ACA are very compatible with what we do.” 

 

http://www.healthline.com/health-news/th...e-063015#6

 

This is the logic of statism.  We spend a trillion dollars and half a decade creating a "marketplace" and websites that don't working disrupting the care and networks of tens of millions of Americans.  The underlying product, the exchange based insurance contracts, are essentially worthless to working American families because the deductibles are so high that they can't use them.  

 

The private sector comes up with a solution that costs less money less time and doesn't push tens of millions of people off their health insurance and the statists raise their arms and sing their own praises because they didn't outlaw the work around...  

 

If i come and burn your house down do i get credit for the great deal you get on hotels.com?  

 

 

Quote:I still think it would be too expensive.  I can walk and chew gum at the same time...  It works as a niche, but you can't take care of an entire population of 300 million with it.  From reading it, this is a way for doctors to opt out, have less patients and make more money.  If there's already a doctor shortage, why the heck would doctors having less patients be cost effective?  It wouldn't...

 

Also, the moment the obamacare madate to have health insurance goes away, the concierge market dries up once again...  Unless you want to keep the obamacare mandate...  Do you?

 

You've been conditioned your whole life to think in terms of mandates and government programs, i get it.  Direct compensation to care providers is an alternative method of risk management.  It offloads certain risks from health insurers that in the long term will make any insurance contract less affordable.  It also gives incentives for more efficient delivery of care.  If the underlying cost of the stitches drops from 2000 at the ER to a 15 minute drive to your doctors office then that efficiency is going to make its way through the marketplace.  

 

Urgent Care facilities are another great example.  We should be encouraging systems that allow physicians assistance, nurse practitioners etc. etc. etc. to do as much of the small stuff as possible and lower cost.  

 

One of the reasons that this has moved so slowly is that most healthcare providers are hooked up with major networks of health insurers and are almost never REALLY exposed to price competition.  The more exposure that the market sees to real price competition then the more natural efficiency and innovations will be created.  

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