Imagine getting better care for less money. That’s what the new healthcare law is promising, but some say it’s already happening at direct primary care clinics around the country.
At Qliance in Seattle, doctors say the program is much like a gym membership. You pay a monthly fee and see your doctor as much as you want for all your standard primary care needs, flu-shots, check-ups, prescriptions etc. Doctors say by cutting out the insurance company and collecting payment directly from the patients, they can keep costs down and provide more quality care.
For companies the cost to insure employees is around 55 dollars each, for individuals with no health insurance around 75 dollars. A bargain says one patient Trish Younggren. “I would pay more if I could,” says Younggren. “The accessibility to the care here is unbelievable.”
Local seattle based employer Becker Trucking is sold. They have 70 employees covered by Qliance and owner Frank Riordan says he’s saved 12.5 percent in costs already. “It has been a success for us,” says Riordan.
There are thousands of direct primary care clinics up and running in 21 different states, but health care experts say they won’t work for everyone. The programs are designed to benefit small firms with 100 employees or less. Most primary care clinics are simply not equipped to handle large corporations with thousands of employees. That notion says Dylan Roby of UCLA could “put the physician and the organization at risk of losing money.” Roby says large firms will most likely be better off with whatever insurance they currently have.
In addition the new healthcare law calls for everyone to carry health insurance by 2014. That means even people who are affiliated with a direct primary care clinic like Qliance will have to carry additional “wrap-aound” service to cover emergency and catastrophic care, and that’s an additional expense.
No matter what many patients who are used to seeing their doctor whenever they want say that’s the way they like it…. Trish Younggren of Seattle says she’ll never look back. “It is better that anything I had when I was fully insured.”