My wife's GP Dr just told her she is becoming a concierge practice

[CC27]

edhopper

My wife's GP Dr just told her she is becoming a concierge practice

that will cost $4,000 a year just to join, all medical cost will still cost the same or more.
She was told by email and said she has one week to decide. She now has to find a new GP, many aren't taking new patients. Medicare is also a barrier to some.

My guess is some Hedge Fund/Venture Capitalist bought the practice and wants to "optimize profits" at the expense of patients.

This is were this country is going, if you are wealthy enough, you get medical care, if not, Good Luck.

The for profit healthcare industry we have is "profits first, patients last".

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100220545106

I smell BS

[SVPete]

I've never heard of a "concierge practice" medical group here where I live in Silicon Valley (2 or 3 million population, depending on how "Silicon Valley" is defined). Whether in a small town (where such a pay-for-membership set-up would limit patients and invite competitors) or in a large city (where such a pay-for-membership set-up would face heavy competition), I don't see how this could be a successful business model.

edhopper's post sounds like fiction designed to stir up support for government-run health-don't-care.

[DUmpDiver]

I've never heard of a "concierge practice"

Me neither so I Googled it:

A concierge practice is a type of healthcare model, most commonly seen in primary care, where patients pay a recurring annual fee or subscription to their physician's office for a higher level of service, increased accessibility, and personalized care. This membership fee allows for reduced patient panels, leading to more in-depth and longer appointments, same-day or next-day scheduling, and direct communication with their doctor, such as phone or email access. While concierge practices still typically bill insurance for services like labs and specialists, the membership covers the enhanced access and relationship-building aspects of care.

You pay more for better service.

[SVPete]

Changing primary care physicians - or whatever other term applies - is a minor PITA, but doable and not worth whining about on a news/politics discussion site. We recently changed our PCP of 4 decades because the administration of her group practice had become unresponsive and uncommunicative, but I saw no reason to mention it here, except in this post to point out the DU OP's likely shit-stirring purpose.

The trend, over the past 4 decades or so has been toward individual-practice doctors moving into group practices and medical foundations, such as Kaiser or Sutter. This has been at least partly driven by government regulatory mandates & costs, Medicare cutting fees below doctors' actual costs, and large insurance plans mandating-cutting their "full" payments for services. Group and foundation practices spread administrative costs across multiple doctors rather than just one (this puts a squeeze on doctors in small towns).

[jukin]

This is a predictable reaction to the democrats and preezy Shit Midas' unAffordable care act. Most of us on the right knew and said so at the time.

DUmbass DUches should own this predictable result.

[SVPete]

DD, I can understand DU-grade Progs being POed by a business model of paying a membership fee for premium service. They think healthcare should be "free" (= the costs being hidden behind bureaucrats who suck up 65%-75% of the tax $$$$ expended for it). I still wonder how good of a business model "concierge practice" will be.

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This is a predictable reaction to the democrats and preezy Shit Midas' unAffordable care act. Most of us on the right knew and said so at the time.

DUmbass DUches should own this predictable result.

Progs never own consequences substantially different from their "good intentions".

[FlippyDoo]

I've never heard of a "concierge practice" medical group here where I live in Silicon Valley (2 or 3 million population, depending on how "Silicon Valley" is defined). Whether in a small town (where such a pay-for-membership set-up would limit patients and invite competitors) or in a large city (where such a pay-for-membership set-up would face heavy competition), I don't see how this could be a successful business model.

edhopper's post sounds like fiction designed to stir up support for government-run health-don't-care.

My doctor calls his practice a concierge practice. I don’t know why he calls it that, but he doesn’t charge any sort of a membership fee. There is a medical place in town that does have a yearly membership type fee, but it’s not required. The last time I looked into it, it’s set up so that if you choose to pay the membership fee you get “x” amount of visits per year at a next to nothing cost.

As for the DUmbAss, it's likely either lying (which is their default setting) or there is more to the story.