WBUR Interview with Martha Bebinger

0519_direct-primary-care01-620x465
Thank you Katie Couric for the photobomb

 

Thank you to Martha Bebinger from WBUR for interviewing me and publishing this great piece today on Gold Direct Care and how Direct Primary Care in general can work to improve the healthcare system as a whole. Also thank you to Mr. Bird who agreed to be interviewed that day while he was here. To reinforce why I feel the arguments against Direct Primary Care presented in the article today are weak at best:

 

1. DPC worsens the primary care shortage:

I ask these questions in response. What is the current system doing to fix it? Bogging down primary care doctors with more paperwork and more patients to see a day? “Value-base payments” that are based on how complex a physician “codes” their patient and visits rather than how complex the patient actually is as a human being?

By making primary care attractive to medical students from a professional and financial standpoint- including the ones I teach from Tufts Medical School- we can further supply this system with high quality, passionate students that want to do primary care for the right reason which is caring for patients. Most medical students graduate with around 150,000-250,000 dollars worth of debt. It is very challenging to offer them primary care as it currently is and currently pays. So lets fix that with Direct Primary Care.

 

2. DPC is “insurance”:

Without getting into legalities, the Affordable Care Act states in Section 1301 (a) (3) that Direct Primary Care combined with a catastrophic or high deductible insurance plan qualifies a patient as meeting the ACA standards of full “insurance”.  However, having DPC alone would result in the patient paying the Obamacare fine. Therefore, it seems clear that DPC alone is not “insurance” or an “insurance-type product”.  If you are interested in reading about this further please read this article by Dave Chase from Forbes. Mr. Chase is a great proponent of Direct Primary Care and very knowledgable on the topic.

Forbes Article on DPC Regulation by Dave Chase

Open Enrollment: What To Do Next

health-open-enrollment

 

For all of you who are in the enrollment period for employer-based insurance, including town employees, we can help answer your many questions. We offer free one hour consultations to help look over your insurance benefits.  We also show you how Gold Direct Care can complement your insurance in a way which accomplishes two main goals:

1) Provide you with better access to primary care (AKA better quality care) with a doctor that is available to you when you need them. Appointments guaranteed within 24 hours and no insurance hassles.

2) Lower your cost. By combining our aged-based monthly fee with a lower premium/higher deductible plan we can get you to either break even for better value or, best case scenario, we can save you money all the while keeping you protected medically and financially.



 

We understand how complex insurance options can be. We are here to help you become a better consumer and navigate these complexities, so you and your family are protected; all the while getting the best value for their dollar.  Please contact us for any inquires and to set up a time to talk at info@golddirectcare.com or 781-842-3961.

We also have knowledgeable insurance consultants as well whom we can direct you to if needed.

Here is an article with great examples if you would like to learn more: What Really Happens When You Cut The Red Tape