Twin Cities doctors bypass insurers; patients charged directly for care

pioneer press ^ | 1-28-13 | Christopher Snowbeck

[TurboZamboni]

Starting in April, the practice will ask patients to pay doctors directly for their care and no longer will accept payments from insurance companies except for Medicare.

"We believe that insurance companies are making it increasingly difficult to practice patient-centered medicine," the doctors in the practice wrote to patients this month.

The doctors are joining the small but growing number of physicians who since the late 1990s have tried going the "direct pay" or "concierge" route, where doctors typically care for a smaller group of patients who are willing to pay for easier access to their physician.

It's a trend that continues even though the federal health law of 2010 will require most patients in the country starting next year to buy health insurance -- a rule that's expected to bring millions of people into the health care system.

[slowhandluke]

There are 2 kinds of free-riders on insurance.

The first are the folks who don't get it and don't pay.

The second are the medical industry lobbyists who insist that any medical insurance policy must cover everything, every niggling problem and every possible therapy and therapist.

New Jersey has as much trouble with the second set as the first, if not more. I'm not sure how to practically limit the trouble these lobbyists cause, but outlawing medical insurance might do it.

[TurboZamboni]

I think some confuse insurance with health care.