Finally, a System that Cuts out Insurance Companies: Concierge Medicine

by Alex A. Kecskes

In the wake of ever-escalating health insurance costs and the trend for insurance companies, physicians and hospitals to treat patients like cattle, it's surprising that the concept of concierge medicine hasn't caught on sooner.

Basically, concierge medicine establishes a close relationship between a patient and a primary care physician in which the patient pays an annual retainer in exchange for enhanced care. Other terms often used to describe this arrangement are boutique medicine, retainer-based medicine, cash only practice, direct care, direct primary care, and direct practice medicine.

Concierge physicians may care for as few as 100 patients annually—as opposed to the 3,000 to 4,000 the average physician currently sees. These boutique doctors are often accessible via cell phone or email any time of day or night. They may also offer additional special services beyond the normal care provided by insurance paid physicians. Annual fees vary from $600 to $5,000 per year for an individual (still less than many insurance company premiums charge for individual policies).

While insurance companies claim they cover more than doctor visits, in a growing number of cases, especially for individual plans, you pay an exorbitant premium and still end up paying for most non-catastrophic care. The insurance company simply pays a "negotiated" or whittled down fee to the provider (which is basically covered by your high premium).

Concierge practices view insurance companies as needless, impersonal statistics-driven "middlemen." In fact, "cash-only" or "direct primary care" practices simply refuse to deal with insurance companies, thus keeping overhead and administrative costs low, and providing affordable healthcare to patients.

I applaud these efforts by doctors to finally take control away from the insurance companies and return to the days when doctors treated patients like human beings. The current insurance driven system is forcing too many doctors to leave medicine.

For an insightful look at how one physician treats his patients using the concierge approach, check out Cash-Only Healthcare Still Works.

You may also want to read "Concierge Medicine: A New System to Get the Best Healthcare" by Steven D. Knope M.D.

For more information on health careers, visit http://www.healthcarejobsiteblog.com/

Alex A. Kecskes has written hundreds of published articles on health/fitness, "green" issues, TV/film entertainment, restaurant reviews and many other topics. As a former Andy/Belding/One Show ad agency copywriter, he also writes web content, ads, brochures, sales letters, mailers and scripts for national B2B and B2C clients.