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CASH ONLY, PLEASE
Physicians Practice ^ | July/August 2006 | Nancy J. Morgan MD

Posted on 07/23/2006 2:42:46 AM PDT by Hostage

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The author is from Washington State, north of Seattle.

United Healthcare's CEO has a salary well in excess of $200 million per year and is presently under SEC investigation for $1.9 billion (B-I-L-L-I-O-N) in backdated stock options.

1 posted on 07/23/2006 2:42:46 AM PDT by Hostage
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To: Hostage

Is United Healthcare the group who is providing the care for a fee, or is that the Washington State Health commissioner's group? The newspaper link did not work.


2 posted on 07/23/2006 2:46:05 AM PDT by madison10
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To: Hostage

Medicine is now at the point where insurance companies are dictating to doctors how they should practice medicine while demanding huge premiums. They are also constantly bitching to keep costs down at the expense of patient health. I find this all rather disgusting to say the least when CEO's of the HMO's are making millions per year.
Malpractice insurance isn't getting any cheaper either. I agree with you. Charging patients what they can pay works. Not dealing with insurance billings also keeps the overhead down. Working out of your home keeps costs down also.


3 posted on 07/23/2006 2:58:34 AM PDT by Pine Mtn. Maverick
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To: Hostage
She makes a good point. If a doctor would be willing to charge lower for one visit that what the patient pays through the insurance company, then the patient should pay in cash. Its not exactly "concierge" medicine. We don't have insurance arrangements for any other professional service. Just try getting your insurance company to pay for your attorney's services.

(Go Israel, Go! Slap 'Em, Down Hezbullies.)

4 posted on 07/23/2006 3:02:17 AM PDT by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)
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To: Hostage
$100 a month is less than my entire HMO monthly coverage! So why shouldn't doctors be allowed to provish cash only services if it can be done cheaper and better than through the insurance company. The only way we'll get a handle on rising health care costs is to encourage competition and to allow doctors to offer a variety of services on cash retainer that fits a particular budget - whether its the individual or a family.

(Go Israel, Go! Slap 'Em, Down Hezbullies.)

5 posted on 07/23/2006 3:05:56 AM PDT by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)
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To: madison10

United Healthcare is a publicly traded corporation. I added a comment about their CEO to provide a contrast, otherwise the author made no mention of United Healthcare specifically.

But United Healthcare is known to fight doctors at every turn for patient coverage. In other words thay don't pay unless you spend countless hours on the phone badgering them.

United makes money by not paying doctors for service meaning not allowing doctors to provide medical services to patients that have United as their health insurer. Or put it this way, the doctors can provide care for free unless they charge a so-called "concierge" fee.

I have no qualms with CEOs making a gazillion dollars for inventing a better mousetrap. But making money by denying patients their health benefits rubs me the wrong way.


6 posted on 07/23/2006 3:11:12 AM PDT by Hostage
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To: Pine Mtn. Maverick

Bingo.


7 posted on 07/23/2006 3:11:33 AM PDT by Hostage
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To: goldstategop

I know a primary care physician who takes fresh fish and other food items if patients can't pay in cash. He can't cook and they bring him food. Pretty good arrangement. It's not extremely lucrative, but this physician isn't in it for the money.


8 posted on 07/23/2006 3:11:50 AM PDT by Pine Mtn. Maverick
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To: goldstategop

"Just try getting your insurance company to pay for your attorney's services."

Check out a company called Pre-Paid Legal Services (PPD). There apparently is a market for what they do. I don't use their services, and have managed to stay out of court and not really needed it. On the other hand, I've been lucky enough to remain basically healthy and have not really needed the medical services that I have paid for through my health insurance plan, either. Looking back, I would have been better off paying out of pocket for the few times I have needed medical care over the years and saving on the ongoing premiums, the same as with my legal needs. But I didn't know that going forward and it seemed the better course to have the health insurance. However, I can't see the principled difference between that and the legal insurance I passed up. In both cases, I would have been happy to have the coverage if things had gone wrong in various ways that they did not.


9 posted on 07/23/2006 3:13:52 AM PDT by Stirner
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To: Hostage
Our family doctor says between the government (State and Federal) and the insurance companies, the healthcare industry will collapse in another two or three years. Cash-pay is the way to go.
10 posted on 07/23/2006 3:18:25 AM PDT by Uncle Vlad
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To: Hostage

I posted similar info a while back about some cash - only health providers that would let you have a REAL doctors visit for like 25 bux out of pocket. You basically had only to pay them cash and sign some statement saying you would not sue them for malpractice.

The post was attacked by somebody who said it couldn't possibly be true, as no hospital would admit someone from a doctor who didn't have up to date malpractice insurance.


Back before insurance companies went whole-hog at the trough and the government got involved in health care, you could actually AFFORD to go have a regular doctors visit, or even have one come to you.


11 posted on 07/23/2006 3:19:12 AM PDT by djf (A short fence is mathematically the same as NO FENCE...)
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To: Hostage

Your link doesn't work and when I went to the website I couldn't find this article. In which issue of the journal was this article published?


12 posted on 07/23/2006 3:19:24 AM PDT by defenderSD ("Rise early, work hard, strike oil." - J. Paul Getty)
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To: Pine Mtn. Maverick

There was an OB-GYN who recently passed away on the Island of Maui. He was eighty years old and had practiced on the Islands for well over 50 years.

He often accepted a lettuce or sack of onions or other produce in return for services. Don't ever remember hearing of any trouble with the IRS but he did have trouble with his wife. He would often make house calls while she would wait for him to return to the office. But he would take sometimes hours for a one-hour call and return with a pineapple instead of a check or cash.

He used to spend countless hours talking and catching up on the latest gossip and local politics with his patients while getting a lettuce in return. Drove his wife nuts.

Needless to say he was a favorite doc in Maui. And he did have a grand lifestyle there regardless of how people compensated him.


13 posted on 07/23/2006 3:19:29 AM PDT by Hostage
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To: defenderSD

Sorry to say it is an editorial and is not listed under the website's articles.

I just tried this link and it worked. Don't know why it isn't working otherwise for you.

http://www.physicianspractice.com/


14 posted on 07/23/2006 3:21:52 AM PDT by Hostage
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To: Hostage

Your link is misspelled in your post: you spelled it ww.physicianspratice.com. Please ask the mods to fix your spelling.


15 posted on 07/23/2006 3:23:53 AM PDT by defenderSD ("Rise early, work hard, strike oil." - J. Paul Getty)
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To: defenderSD

Thanks for pointing that out. How do I ask the mods?


16 posted on 07/23/2006 3:24:54 AM PDT by Hostage
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To: Hostage

Just post a reply to Admin Moderator and they should fix it fairly soon.


17 posted on 07/23/2006 3:26:40 AM PDT by defenderSD ("Rise early, work hard, strike oil." - J. Paul Getty)
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To: Pine Mtn. Maverick

This is the cure for Medicare and Medicaid too. Instead of CMS rules and regulations, just give poor seniors and those with clear disabilities a $50,000-per-year healthcare account in the form of a debit card. Of course there'll be monthly premiums to keep costs down - but no more deductibles, co-pays, and other BS. Unused monies won't carry over - whatever the existing balance is will be added to the X amount to bring it back to the $50,000 level. They can use the account to buy prescription drugs (NO MORE "DOUGHNUT HOLE" NONSENSE), dental, medical, vision, nursing home care, etc without the BS. Some FReepers will scream that this is socialism but it's not. This immediately reduces 90% of paperwork and saves billions in bureaucratic costs. The program phases itself out on it's own.


18 posted on 07/23/2006 3:28:33 AM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist (404 Page Error Found)
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To: Admin Moderator

Please fix the link to the source. Thie original was misspelled. It should be:

http://www.physicianspractice.com/

Thank you.


19 posted on 07/23/2006 3:28:56 AM PDT by Hostage
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To: Hostage
But he would take sometimes hours for a one-hour call and return with a pineapple

Sounds like he loved what he did. Which is really the true definition of success.

20 posted on 07/23/2006 3:28:57 AM PDT by somemoreequalthanothers (All for the betterment of "the state", comrade)
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