4 ms·
Unfortunately, no. $40000 per year sounds expensive, but I pay half that much in Switzerland, and my medical experiences are much worse than described. In fact
by atemerev 9y ago
Unfortunately, no. $40000 per year sounds expensive, but I pay half that much in Switzerland, and my medical experiences are much worse than described.
In fact, if somebody would just freed me from any worries about hospital bills, negotiations, late fees, appointments etc, I would consider paying $40000 flat yearly rate to get everything covered (if for the whole family). Unfortunately, it looks impossible in Switzerland. There are concierge services, but they just add their own bill on top of hospital bills.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- natoliniak 9y agothe $40k mentioned does not cover hospital stay. From the article: "The annual fee covers the cost of visits, all tests and procedures in the office, house calls and just about anything else other than hospitalization"
- atemerev 9y agoHospital _stay_ -- no. Hospital visits -- yes. Most of my medical expenses to date were unrelated to hospital stay (though it is the hospital who issued the bulk of the bills). All in all, I have payed around $100k for medical expenses since 2011. I.e. I am OK with the terms. I would prefer to pay a little less, $40k is outside of my affordable range ($24k is more like it). However, if absolutely unnegotiable, I might put it on wishlist for the next 3-4 years.
- natoliniak 9y agoAlthough the article doesn't specify the details of the program, but a typical visit to a hospital emergency room in the US is billed differently than a regular office visit with much higher mandatory co pays. By the example given in the article, it seems like their private "concierge" doctor shows up at the hospital, but what about the other costs associated with the visit? nursing costs, xray, ambulance, labs, other doctors? all of those are billed separately and patient's responsibility, and they are not cheap. If that 40k covers those additional costs at 100% as well, then it actually sounds like great value, but somehow i doubt it. But anyway, the folks on the $40k/yr plan probably are not concerned about the additional cost they just want fast private service.
- atemerev 9y agoAccording to the article, $40k is the flat rate for everything except hospital stay, which makes a lot of economical sense. If it is $40k _on top_ of existing medical expenses (which I doubt), it is just another toy for the wealthy, and will not gain significant traction. "Regular" concierge service is usually much less expensive.