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Show HN: InstaCured – Instant telehealth at $19 per visit

9 points by omer_k 2y ago

Everyone deserves access to affordable care instantly. I've been an avid fan of the HN community for years. To give back to this community, here's 25% off your visit. - UCSF trained Doctors - No insurance is required - Zero subscriptions - Get prescriptions at your local pharmacy - Doctor's Note for school or work Promo Code: 25OFF I'm the designer and CTO. For any questions, ask me anything! Thank you so much HN, omer

ilrwbwrkhv 2y ago
Is this better than Dr Gupta? The chat gpt doctor?
- darkstaar4 2y ago
  [dead]
- omer_k 2y ago
  If you're sick and need a prescription and value the convenience of avoiding long wait lists to see the doctor; not having to commute to an in-person visit or you do not have insurance - that's where InstaCured may be an option for you.
j33zusjuice 2y ago
What’s the benefit of this over first stop health, or the difference between your offering and theirs? I know of FSH through a former employer, which makes me think FSH targets a different customer base (businesses). I also have no clue what they charge since it was a paid work benefit. Is the differentiator the audience your targeting? Separately, how is it feasible for this service to charge so little? Btw, I love the idea, and I love the pricing. I’m a huge fan of things that make health care more accessible and affordable.
- darkstaar4 2y ago
  [dead]
- omer_k 2y ago
  I'm not familiar with First Stop Health. There's plenty of telehealth companies, many require insurance or subscriptions, that's how we are different. Over time, ideally our pricing model will get cheaper as ads will subsidize patient costs, so patients win in the end and our patients data is also never shared.
jtbayly 2y ago
I’m confused: > What’s the Price? > > Our ad supported visit is $19 per visit. Your data is confidential, never shared, and HIPAA compliant. Why and how is this ad-supported?
- darkstaar4 2y ago
  I’m one of the co-founders. Our visits are ad-supported to help reduce the cost of a doctor’s visit. While most telehealth services charge $40 to $200 per visit, we keep our costs lower. Your data isn’t used to show you ads; instead, everyone sees the same ad from our internal network. We do not use any third-party ad networks, so your data remains private and is not shared.
- omer_k 2y ago
  Great question, before your visit starts there is a 30 second video ad. Right now we're new so the only ad you see is an InstaCured ad. We adhere to strict HIPAA compliance so your patient information is never shared with advertisers, now or in the future. If you'd like an Ad free experience, the price is $39 per visit.
NetworkPerson 2y ago
Before anyone gets too far into trying to use this… FAQ states “You must be at least 18 years old and be in California, Florida, or Michigan. No insurance coverage is required.”
- darkstaar4 2y ago
  [dead]
- omer_k 2y ago
  That's correct, we'd love to expand to more states soon!
dotcoma 2y ago
So, $19 per visit or $39 if ad-free, and “Over time, ideally our pricing model will get cheaper as ads will subsidize patient costs”, says the founder. Ads are already subsidising $20 per visit, with a single 30” video ad. Am I really the only one not on dope? There is no way anybody can charge $ 20,000 CPM for a video ad ($20 per visit, multiplied by 1,000 visits). Oh, and there’s also no way a visit by a doctor can cost only $39 in the US. These people have hundreds of thousands of dollars of Med school to pay back. Wake up, people!
- darkstaar4 2y ago
  [dead]
- omer_k 2y ago
  As one of the founders, I understand the assumption that our service might work like Google or Bing. However, the $39 option is simply a premium choice for those who prefer not to wait through the ad. The actual cost of the visit is still lower than the $19 our patients pay. We encourage patients to use the ad-supported option, as it helps us attract more advertisers and grow our platform. Our long-term goal is to expand and offer additional services, while keeping our core offering—quick doctor visits—at $19, or ideally even lower in the future. Our three founding doctors aim to make healthcare actually affordable and our future advertisers will subsidize the cost. That is our hypothesis for this startup. There are numerous telehealth platforms that are on a subscription basis with similar pricing, so it's not unrealistic to have prices such as a $19 visit. We've been live for a few months, and our 400+ patients have responded positively to the $19 doctor visits. For instance, please see our happy customers in both respective App Stores: iOS - 23 Ratings at 4.8 Stars https://apps.apple.com/us/app/instacured/id1665112009 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/instacured/id1665112009 Android - 7 Ratings at 5 Stars https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.instacured.patient&hl=en&gl=US https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.instacured... If you'd like to grab a cup of coffee and speak with one of our founders to know we're legit, we'd be happy to accommodate that for you. Looks like we got flagged after your comment, any ideas how to help us with this?
  - dotcoma 2y ago

9 points by omer_k 2y ago

ilrwbwrkhv 2y ago

Is this better than Dr Gupta? The chat gpt doctor?

darkstaar4 2y ago
[dead]
omer_k 2y ago
If you're sick and need a prescription and value the convenience of avoiding long wait lists to see the doctor; not having to commute to an in-person visit or you do not have insurance - that's where InstaCured may be an option for you.

j33zusjuice 2y ago

What’s the benefit of this over first stop health, or the difference between your offering and theirs? I know of FSH through a former employer, which makes me think FSH targets a different customer base (businesses). I also have no clue what they charge since it was a paid work benefit. Is the differentiator the audience your targeting? Separately, how is it feasible for this service to charge so little? Btw, I love the idea, and I love the pricing. I’m a huge fan of things that make health care more accessible and affordable.

darkstaar4 2y ago
[dead]
omer_k 2y ago
I'm not familiar with First Stop Health. There's plenty of telehealth companies, many require insurance or subscriptions, that's how we are different. Over time, ideally our pricing model will get cheaper as ads will subsidize patient costs, so patients win in the end and our patients data is also never shared.

jtbayly 2y ago

I’m confused: > What’s the Price? > > Our ad supported visit is $19 per visit. Your data is confidential, never shared, and HIPAA compliant. Why and how is this ad-supported?

darkstaar4 2y ago
I’m one of the co-founders. Our visits are ad-supported to help reduce the cost of a doctor’s visit. While most telehealth services charge $40 to $200 per visit, we keep our costs lower. Your data isn’t used to show you ads; instead, everyone sees the same ad from our internal network. We do not use any third-party ad networks, so your data remains private and is not shared.
omer_k 2y ago
Great question, before your visit starts there is a 30 second video ad. Right now we're new so the only ad you see is an InstaCured ad. We adhere to strict HIPAA compliance so your patient information is never shared with advertisers, now or in the future. If you'd like an Ad free experience, the price is $39 per visit.

NetworkPerson 2y ago

Before anyone gets too far into trying to use this… FAQ states “You must be at least 18 years old and be in California, Florida, or Michigan. No insurance coverage is required.”

darkstaar4 2y ago
[dead]
omer_k 2y ago
That's correct, we'd love to expand to more states soon!

dotcoma 2y ago

So, $19 per visit or $39 if ad-free, and “Over time, ideally our pricing model will get cheaper as ads will subsidize patient costs”, says the founder. Ads are already subsidising $20 per visit, with a single 30” video ad. Am I really the only one not on dope? There is no way anybody can charge $ 20,000 CPM for a video ad ($20 per visit, multiplied by 1,000 visits). Oh, and there’s also no way a visit by a doctor can cost only $39 in the US. These people have hundreds of thousands of dollars of Med school to pay back. Wake up, people!

darkstaar4 2y ago
[dead]
omer_k 2y ago
As one of the founders, I understand the assumption that our service might work like Google or Bing. However, the $39 option is simply a premium choice for those who prefer not to wait through the ad. The actual cost of the visit is still lower than the $19 our patients pay. We encourage patients to use the ad-supported option, as it helps us attract more advertisers and grow our platform. Our long-term goal is to expand and offer additional services, while keeping our core offering—quick doctor visits—at $19, or ideally even lower in the future. Our three founding doctors aim to make healthcare actually affordable and our future advertisers will subsidize the cost. That is our hypothesis for this startup. There are numerous telehealth platforms that are on a subscription basis with similar pricing, so it's not unrealistic to have prices such as a $19 visit. We've been live for a few months, and our 400+ patients have responded positively to the $19 doctor visits. For instance, please see our happy customers in both respective App Stores: iOS - 23 Ratings at 4.8 Stars https://apps.apple.com/us/app/instacured/id1665112009 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/instacured/id1665112009 Android - 7 Ratings at 5 Stars https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.instacured.patient&hl=en&gl=US https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.instacured... If you'd like to grab a cup of coffee and speak with one of our founders to know we're legit, we'd be happy to accommodate that for you. Looks like we got flagged after your comment, any ideas how to help us with this?
- dotcoma 2y ago