It would be great if you could hire your own concierge doctor, a doctor who gave you their personal phone number and actually returned your calls. A doctor you could get to know and a doctor who would make house calls and come to you when you were sick. With a concierge doctor, you can do just that.
Doctors are getting tired of health insurance companies telling them how to practice medicine, not being fully paid, not being able to treat patients properly and tired of drive-thru medicine. Seeing 20 to 40 patients per day and only being able to see patients for 5 or 10 minutes per appointment.
Doctors who become a concierge doctor usually drop their patient load from 3,000 to about 500 patients.
The Benefits of a Concierge Doctor
It never fails, just as soon as you get comfortable with a doctor, you have to change doctors because your current health insurance changes the plan. Now you can hire your own concierge doctor to be at your call when you need a doctor. Each plan can have differences. The main benefits of a personal concierge doctor include:
- Not having to wait weeks just for an appointment. You can usually seeing your doctor the same day. This could also include weekends.
- 24-hour telephone numbers and access to your personal doctor.
- Your concierge doctor can come to you in your own home and sometimes accompany you to an appointment with another doctor.
- Telephone consultations.
- Preventative care.
- Access to your online medical records.
- Screening for diseases and medical conditions.
- Sitting down with a patient and thoroughly going over everything.
The Cost of a Personal Doctor
When a doctor becomes a concierge doctor, they might accept insurance plans for certain sicknesses or drop all ties to insurance companies. There are different levels of plans with some top plans costing $5,000 per year; these plans would include 20 appointments at their office or your home, vaccinations and medical tests.
Another doctor’s web site says that the annual fee includes your yearly physical, routine appointments, tests performed in the doctor's office, vaccinations and the doctors care at the hospital he works at. His annual fee is $2,500 per year. An additional family adult is a 20% discount and for children ages 16 to 21, there is no fee.
Doctors can also join a concierge medical company like the nationwide company, MDVIP, which is based in Florida. The concierge doctors with this company have a limit of 600 patients. The annual fee for an MDVIP concierge doctor ranges between $1,500 and $1,800 per patient.
With MDVIP, this fee will provide a wellness plan that includes a risk factor analysis, extensive laboratory tests, and an EKG. You can also use this plan when traveling. If you need medical or emergency care while traveling, another MDVIP doctor will take care of you.
There are numerous concierge medical plans throughout the United States. And other doctors have started their own concierge medical practices on their own.
Another doctor’s web site says that the annual fee includes your yearly physical, routine appointments, tests performed in the doctor's office, vaccinations and the doctors care at the hospital he works at. His annual fee is $2,500 per year. An additional family adult is a 20% discount and for children ages 16 to 21, there is no fee.
Doctors can also join a concierge medical company like the nationwide company, MDVIP, which is based in Florida. The concierge doctors with this company have a limit of 600 patients. The annual fee for an MDVIP concierge doctor ranges between $1,500 and $1,800 per patient.
With MDVIP, this fee will provide a wellness plan that includes a risk factor analysis, extensive laboratory tests, and an EKG. You can also use this plan when traveling. If you need medical or emergency care while traveling, another MDVIP doctor will take care of you.
There are numerous concierge medical plans throughout the United States. And other doctors have started their own concierge medical practices on their own.
Do You Still Need Health Insurance
At first, this sounds like an option or a replacement for health insurance. It is not; you still need to have health insurance. Your health insurance is still needed for third-party medical bills like hospital bills, laboratory tests, radiology work, prescription costs, hospitalization, X-rays, CAT scans, MRI’s and specialist as needed. Though some concierge plans differ in what they offer and could cover X-rays and laboratory tests.
Losing Your Current Doctor
The other side of the coin to these concierge doctors is that you could lose your current primary care doctor if they decide to leave that practice and become a concierge doctor. And then once again you would have to find another doctor or pay the annual concierge fee to keep that doctor.
Different Ways to Pay the Doctor
You might be able to use your HSA (health savings account), FSA (flexible spending accounts), MSA (medical savings accounts) and your company’s section 125 plans. Check with your company human resources department and an accountant to make sure. Especially the way IRS laws are constantly changing.
After reading many concierge medical plans, it is clear you need to know all the facts before signing up. Many say that you can have physicals and a certain amount of office visits per year. One doctor’s concierge plan I read stated that he would bill your health insurance company for office visits other than your annual wellness physical.
I am seeing what sounds like real concierge doctors and also an odd mixture of concierge doctor plans accepting health insurance and collecting the annual fee. Make sure you read and understand exactly what you can expect with a certain concierge medical plan.
With more doctors turning away Medicare patients, senior citizens are looking towards the concierge doctor plans. And keep in mind, that a doctor being a concierge doctor certainly doesn’t mean he is any better practicing medicine than any other doctor. Finding a new doctor should still require some research.
It seems to me that what we have with a personal concierge doctor is your personal doctor who will see you within two days at most, make house calls and personally return your calls, and you still need your health insurance to cover hospital bills and many other procedures.
It sounds exactly like the medical care we used to have in the United States before 1980, yet now we need to pay for both of these services to have what we used to have.
Having your own personal doctor or family doctor would give many people and families peace of mind, just knowing that their own doctor would be there for them when needed and they could get in to see them. Other names are boutique, concierge, and retainer medical practices.
About the Author
Sam Montana is a certified Food Over Medicine instructor from the Wellness Forum Health Center and certified in optimal nutrition from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Copyright © 2010-2019 Sam Montana
Read The Fine Print
After reading many concierge medical plans, it is clear you need to know all the facts before signing up. Many say that you can have physicals and a certain amount of office visits per year. One doctor’s concierge plan I read stated that he would bill your health insurance company for office visits other than your annual wellness physical.
I am seeing what sounds like real concierge doctors and also an odd mixture of concierge doctor plans accepting health insurance and collecting the annual fee. Make sure you read and understand exactly what you can expect with a certain concierge medical plan.
Concierge Doctor Conclusion
With more doctors turning away Medicare patients, senior citizens are looking towards the concierge doctor plans. And keep in mind, that a doctor being a concierge doctor certainly doesn’t mean he is any better practicing medicine than any other doctor. Finding a new doctor should still require some research.
It seems to me that what we have with a personal concierge doctor is your personal doctor who will see you within two days at most, make house calls and personally return your calls, and you still need your health insurance to cover hospital bills and many other procedures.
It sounds exactly like the medical care we used to have in the United States before 1980, yet now we need to pay for both of these services to have what we used to have.
Having your own personal doctor or family doctor would give many people and families peace of mind, just knowing that their own doctor would be there for them when needed and they could get in to see them. Other names are boutique, concierge, and retainer medical practices.
About the Author
Sam Montana is a certified Food Over Medicine instructor from the Wellness Forum Health Center and certified in optimal nutrition from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Copyright © 2010-2019 Sam Montana
