Cutting out the insurer

While I am not a fan of the AMA in its current structure, I do think that the idea of eliminating Big Insurance is something whose time has come many years ago, but now AMA is noticing.  It is certainly long overdue.

This has been around in some parts of the country for a dozen or more years.  Doctors and patients like it.

For those who don't get it or refuse to consider it, thrid party billing is more damaging to health care than tort reform: it is the root problem.
By Doug Trapp, amednews staff. Aug. 1, 2011.

A small but enthusiastic minority of primary care physicians believe they have found a practice model that can save money, improve patients' long-term health and drastically reduce administrative hassles: direct primary care.

Direct primary care practices are an offshoot of the retainer care model, which provides unlimited or less-restricted access to physicians for a set fee. Under direct primary care, patients pay a monthly fee -- sometimes less than $100 -- for unlimited access to a range of primary care services, possibly as complex as minor surgeries and x-rays. Patients at these practices are encouraged to have basic health insurance to pay for specialist and hospital care, otherwise uninsured patients pay out of pocket for care outside the practice.  read more

Selection from Natural Health News




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