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I use a high deductible plan and pay out of pocket for a direct primary care provider. I realize this option isn't widely available or even sustainable for the

I use a high deductible plan and pay out of pocket for a direct primary care provider. I realize this option isn't widely available or even sustainable for the economy as a whole, but it's a great option if you can get in. My doctor is easily available (because his client roster is small) and my common visits are all rolled into a flat rate subscription. I pay $85/mo for this. The reason it costs less is because there are no administrative staff at all aside from the receptionist. interfacing with insurers requires an entire back office of non revenue employees that DCPs do not need to bother with. You can also save a lot of money in HDHP by ordering your own tests from a reseller like ownyourlabs instead of having the hospital doing it, especially if you like doing annual preventative tests that may not be medically necessary. I bring the results to my dpc doctor for review and it's all very convenient.

nwellinghoff 2y ago
How do you find a doctor that operates like this?
- jabroni_salad 2y ago
  There is a directory here: https://mapper.dpcfrontier.com/ https://mapper.dpcfrontier.com/ These are usually small independent offices not in a hospital so they will be doing their own marketing. look around for family clinics in your area the old fashioned way too.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- jmclnx 2y ago
  I read an article, I think here on ycombinator, that eventually most people will interact with an AI as opposed to a real Doctor. In a way, I would not be surprised that is the case in maybe 10 or so years. And I expect this AI will be run by Health Insurance Companies. We already seeing a bit of that. It is time for the US Gov to stop collecting bribes (contributions) and "man up" to fix Health Care, even if it means they will lose their job. Congress is suppose to serve the community, not private health care and other fortune 500 companies.
Bluecobra 2y ago
I'm a big fan of HDHP's since you can save/accrue money in a health savings account and not lose it. While the deductible is super high, my employer has a good health plan and once you hit it everything is covered 100% (coinsurance). If something bad happens, ideally you will have enough money saved to cover any deductibles. The sky is the limit if you are stuck in the hospital with something severe and it's good to have some piece of mind that everything will be OK. In the past I was in the hospital for about 10 days with pneumonia and at the time I had a standard PPO plan that only covered up to 90%. I was all of a sudden on the hook for thousands of dollars for medical bills , as my stay was over $100K in expenses and that was about 15 years ago. It's not like you can shop around for ER's when you are severely ill. I did make sure that the hospital was in-network before I went to it though. I can't imagine what the cost would be now. Luckily I had the means to pay these bills, but I would have saved a lot of money if I had a HDHP.
- nradov 2y ago
  The individual annual out-of-pocket maximum for most PPO plans is about $9K so that would be the upper limit on your direct cost now. Of course that can be a huge financial burden for some people, especially when combined with possible loss of income from not working for 10 days. Contributing some money to an HRA/HSA is a good idea to prepare for such an event. https://apnews.com/article/how-to-shop-for-health-insurance-16fa0b3d10e052e0e99699b4761a2d1a https://apnews.com/article/how-to-shop-for-health-insurance-...

nwellinghoff 2y ago

How do you find a doctor that operates like this?

jabroni_salad 2y ago
There is a directory here: https://mapper.dpcfrontier.com/ https://mapper.dpcfrontier.com/ These are usually small independent offices not in a hospital so they will be doing their own marketing. look around for family clinics in your area the old fashioned way too.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
jmclnx 2y ago
I read an article, I think here on ycombinator, that eventually most people will interact with an AI as opposed to a real Doctor. In a way, I would not be surprised that is the case in maybe 10 or so years. And I expect this AI will be run by Health Insurance Companies. We already seeing a bit of that. It is time for the US Gov to stop collecting bribes (contributions) and "man up" to fix Health Care, even if it means they will lose their job. Congress is suppose to serve the community, not private health care and other fortune 500 companies.

Bluecobra 2y ago

I'm a big fan of HDHP's since you can save/accrue money in a health savings account and not lose it. While the deductible is super high, my employer has a good health plan and once you hit it everything is covered 100% (coinsurance). If something bad happens, ideally you will have enough money saved to cover any deductibles. The sky is the limit if you are stuck in the hospital with something severe and it's good to have some piece of mind that everything will be OK. In the past I was in the hospital for about 10 days with pneumonia and at the time I had a standard PPO plan that only covered up to 90%. I was all of a sudden on the hook for thousands of dollars for medical bills , as my stay was over $100K in expenses and that was about 15 years ago. It's not like you can shop around for ER's when you are severely ill. I did make sure that the hospital was in-network before I went to it though. I can't imagine what the cost would be now. Luckily I had the means to pay these bills, but I would have saved a lot of money if I had a HDHP.

nradov 2y ago
The individual annual out-of-pocket maximum for most PPO plans is about $9K so that would be the upper limit on your direct cost now. Of course that can be a huge financial burden for some people, especially when combined with possible loss of income from not working for 10 days. Contributing some money to an HRA/HSA is a good idea to prepare for such an event. https://apnews.com/article/how-to-shop-for-health-insurance-16fa0b3d10e052e0e99699b4761a2d1a https://apnews.com/article/how-to-shop-for-health-insurance-...