You?ve probably heard of colleges like Hillsdale and Grove City College that don?t take federal loans and instead charge much lower tuition rates. Here?s the story of a?family physician who has stopped taking health insurance and instead posted reasonable prices for basic primary care visits and procedures. Michael Ciampi, a doctor in South Portland Maine, is demonstrating one possible future for primary care medicine in the age of Obamacare.
Last week, California revealed its new Obamacare rates, and it?s a lot less pretty than the media have portrayed it. Middle-of-the-road health insurance plans on the new exchange there will cost 80 percent more for individuals?than the current market average. The price of the cheapest plan next year for a single 40-year-old man will be about twice as expensive as the cheapest plan currently available?for him at EHealthInsurance.com.
If California provides any indicator of where the system is going, then Ciampi is offering one possible alternative that many doctors and patients could ultimately choose when prices just become too unreasonable. A secondary health care market could emerge in which the healthy pay low prices out-of-pocket for basic services, then carry the legal minimum insurance plan or even pay the relatively low fines (or ?taxes?) for remaining uninsured until they get really sick.
Ciampi?took his revolutionary step in April, the Bangor Daily News reports.?No Medicare, no Medicaid, no private insurance ? just pay him directly when your visit is over. He has posted his prices online, and he claims that without all the insurance paperwork, he?s been able to reduce prices dramatically so that patients can pay out of pocket without much trouble:
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[T]he 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?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.
This isn?t the only possible path forward, but it is one, and Ciampi expects other doctors will follow suit. If he succeeds in this endeavor and remains profitable, he will have demonstrated just how badly third-party payers inflate the costs of health care.
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