Fair enough. What’s the most complex medical procedure these doctors typically do?
family practice and dermatology
In my region, the rise of “concierge medicine” reduces costs dramatically, often 50% or more. We're starting to investigate it. My son's regular, routine MRIs generally run about $2500 through the insurance company. With a $5K+ deductible, and a 20% co-pay then until we have over $10K out of pocket each year, using the insurance company is no bargain. Add that to the five-figure health insurance premium costs each year, and in a bad year of usage, I'm already spending $25K+ on my family's health.
I've seen published rates for MRIs in the region, on a cash basis, of $500. My wife had surgery early in 2013. Our insurance didn't cover the outpatient clinic where it was performed. The price to the insurance company would have been $15K (and we'd have been expected to pay roughly $3K of that). The cash-basis price (we showed up with a credit card) was $2,900.
For those of us affording our own health insurance, we're already spending tens of thousands of dollars per year. If we purchase a catastrophic, indemnity-type policy, and just divert the money otherwise spent on insurance, deductibles, and co-pays to direct payments of the practitioners, a form of self-insuring becomes very viable for many people, and I know that many doctors and providers are happy to move to this model.
I once read that in order to deal with insurance companies and other third-party payers, a single, actual health care provider requires 2.5 support personnel. There's a lot of bureaucracy in the system that goes away once you move back to a system of direct payment by the patient.
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