Yes...It is being done. Dr. Josh Umbehr of 'AtlasMD' provides affordable care and slashes med prices. "At Atlas, patients pay a monthly membership fee — from $10 to $100 per month. Members have access to doctors in person, by phone or through social media channels. Patients don’t pay co-pays and aren’t charged extra for office visits. Medications typically cost “pennies on the pill,” Umbehr told Hannity." http://www.bizjournals.com/wichita/news/2017/03/08/atlasmd-founder-featured-on-fox-news-program.html
Seems like it would only work to the extent that you didn't need much care. Going to the ER with no insurance would cost you more than this guy saved you.
True, I would imagine one would want catastrophic insurance that is illegal under Obamcare. Also part of the doctor-direct model is that there are doctors available 24/7 and they can fix things that you might go to the ER for.
And when his x-ray vision doesn't ID the problem or you have a problem he cannot address in house? I am not saying that he is a bad person, just that it would be risky for someone to elect to drop their insurance dependent on one man's availability. I think it is utterly ridiculous what the system currently is, but he is more a free-rider. It is kind of like buying a solar powered light for your yard and then hoping you never need electricity in the house. Eventually that will bite you in the arse.
I am not sure that it is technically illegal seeing as what some of those bronze plans look like in terms of out of pockets and deductibles. They just rebranded them as catastrophic insurance with free birth control.
That's a very interesting concept. The patient would still want to have an insurance company covering them in case of something catastrophic like cancer or a serious car crash, or to pay for specialists, etc. But with this program taking care of all the routine things, that insurance could be very inexpensive.
http://www.bizjournals.com/wichita/feature/2016-health-care-heroesadministrative-excellence.html "The membership also gives patients access to diagnostic procedures, such as bone scans or pulmonary function tests, at no additional charge. Atlas has 2,200 members and is preparing to add its fifth physician. The practice opened a westside location last year.'' ER visits could be covered with affordable catastrophic insurance.
Yes but that isn't insurance. Basically just covers routine issues. Sort of a poor man's Concierge coverage. To quote the article what is covered is only direct primary care. No way is this a substitute for insurance.
The title of my OP was a bit misleading and technically you are correct however, IMO, People who cannot afford Obamacare or health insurance typically use the ER for routine issues. This type of concierge coverage would cover all of that. No one would have to 'rob' Medicaid or Medicare and catastrophic health insurance could be made available very cheaply.
That reminds me of an episode from a reality show about ERs where patients were faking illnesses to get pain meds.
