Doctors Who Don’t Take Insurance: What Does It Mean for Patients?
More and more doctors are fed up with private insurers. It’s not just a question of how stingy they are, but how difficult it is to get reimbursed. Paperwork, phone calls, insurers who play games by deliberately making reimbursement forms difficult to interpret…Some physicians have just said “no” to insurers.
What does this mean for patients? Business models vary. Some doctors charge by the minute. I recently read about a physician who punches a time-clock when the appointment begins. She has calculated that her time is worth $2 per minute. Fifty-nine minutes = $118. Will you be paying cash, or by charge today?
Somehow, I think the meter would make me nervous. I suspect I might begin talking very quickly. But this is only one model.
Rather than charging by the minute, some doctors charge fee-for-service. In those cases, many physicians mark up their fees well beyond what an insurer would pay. But, they point out, they also spend more time with their patients. No one feels rushed.
A story in a New Jersey newspaper describes how physicians in Northern Jersey have begun following in the footsteps of “elite Manhattan doctors and are withdrawing from all insurance plans.” The article compares fees with and without insurance. On the right, the fees that insurers typically pay for these services; on the left, the fees that Jersey doctors who don’t take insurance charge:
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