Posted on 05/28/2013 8:39:21 AM PDT by llevrok
SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine — Dr. Michael Ciampi took a step this spring that many of his fellow physicians would describe as radical.
The family physician stopped accepting all forms of health insurance. In early 2013, Ciampi sent a letter to his patients informing them that he would no longer accept any kind of health coverage, both private and government-sponsored. Given that he was now asking patients to pay for his services out of pocket, he posted his prices on the practice’s website.
The change took effect April 1.
“It’s been almost unanimous that patients have expressed understanding at why I’m doing what I’m doing, although I’ve had many people leave the practice because they want to be covered by insurance, which is understandable,” Ciampi said.
Before the switch, Ciampi had about 2,000 patients. He lost several hundred, he said. Some patients with health coverage, faced with having to seek reimbursement themselves rather than through his office, bristled at the paperwork burden.
But the decision to do away with insurance allows Ciampi to practice medicine the way he sees fit, he said. Insurance companies no longer dictate how much he charges. He can offer discounts to patients struggling with their medical bills. He can make house calls.
“I’m freed up to do what I think is right for the patients,” Ciampi said. “If I’m providing them a service that they value, they can pay me, and we cut the insurance out as the middleman and cut out a lot of the expense.”
Ciampi expects more doctors will follow suit. Some may choose to run “concierge practices” in which patients pay to keep a doctor on retainer, he said.
Gordon Smith, a spokesman for the Maine Medical Association, wasn’t so sure, saying most patients either want to use the insurance they pay for or need to rely on Medicare and Medicaid.
Even with the loss of some patients, Ciampi expects his practice to perform just as well financially, if not better, than before he ditched insurance. The new approach will likely attract new patients who are self-employed, lack insurance or have high-deductible plans, he said, because Ciampi has slashed his prices.
“I’ve been able to cut my prices in half because my overhead will be so much less,” he said.
Before, Ciampi charged $160 for an office visit with an existing patient facing one or more complicated health problems. Now, he charges $75.
Patients with an earache or strep throat can spend $300 at their local hospital emergency room, or promptly get an appointment at his office and pay $50, he said.
Ciampi collects payment at the end of the visit, freeing him of the time and costs associated with sending bills, he said.
That time is crucial to Ciampi. When his patients come to his office, they see him, not a physician’s assistant or a nurse practitioner, he said.
“If more doctors were able to do this, that would be real health care reform,” he said. “That’s when we’d see the cost of medicine truly go down.”
The only way to get rid of a government monopoly is to decline participation.
If enough doctors do so, Ubamacare will die.
I am hoping to find such a medical professional in my area. I will gladly pay those prices out of pocket, to stay out of the insurance racket.
Ironically, ObamaCare may, in fact, lower the cost of healthcare by making it a cash/barter market.
My dad practiced medicine this way during the 50’s and 60’s. It was common way of doing so.
Then came the Great Society........
I want catastrophic insurance in case I get brain cancer. For everything else, I'd pay out of pocket quite happily.
My wife needed a wrist operation a few years ago. The $5,500 bill was stripped down to $3,500, simply because we didn't have insurance.
Was it because he felt sorry for us, or because he didn't have to do so much paperwork, or because we paid him half on the spot and half in two weeks?
I don't know, maybe some of each, but we all got what we needed.
They are going to come after this guy, time to make an example. Can't have anyone talking back or not marching in lockstep.
Get rid of 3rd party payers and medical services prices will drop like rocks. Not that the dimwit 80% of the population can understand why that would happen.
Leftists
FREAK OUT
when people act rationally and devise methods to avoid their control.
This happened in England and they made it illegal for doctors to not accept insurance because the private care was “superior” and not “fair” for rich people to buy good doctors.
I think this has been un-done (to some degree), but there is still kvetching about it.
I used to own convenience stores and refused to accept food stamps, but was forced to by the state I was in because I accepted credit cards. I sold just to not deal with that crap.
His school loans must be paid off.
I got a 25% discount for paying cash on a physical.
And I got frequent flier miles for using my United card.
Such a deal!
Do you think he would have taken $25/month?
This is why the national health care law in Canada made it illegal for doctors to accept cash fees for service. Until their Supreme Court caught up with that, about forty years too late for most people.
How can this be and in liberal ME too? LBJ predicted that the biggest supporters of Medicare would become the doctors, more so than the hapless patients.
Recently had a kid to the ER and they offered me a 50% discount on the copay if I paid cash on the spot. Which makes perfect sense because they save tons of postage and hours of labor chasing you around to try and collect that later.
Bless him. I bet his business booms, even if clients have to fill out the insurance paperwork.
Yes, but, even if you go this way don’t you still have to pay the penalty...I mean “tax” for not having an ObamaCare approved plan?
“Dimwit 80 percent” may even be a generous mathematical calculation.
Eventually, we are going to wind up like the rest of the developed world in regard to health care (double standard).
A “free” health care system that is very expensive, long waits, poor service and rationing of services.
And a small private system that is exactly opposite of the public option.
I have seen this in more than a dozen countries.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.