Boston, MA

We all know that the debate of health care in America will always be a major issue of our times. Boston is no different. When I heard about this practice of “concierge medical care” even back in 2001, I thought “this can’t be a good thing.” It describes a sad state of affairs for both doctors and patients alike. Imagine the best doctors who are fed up with being dictated (or dictatored) by insurance companies and have to work over 60, even 80, hours a week and have practices of 3,000 patients just to make a “decent” living. On the other hand, there is also the poor sick patient who legitimately needs to see his doctor and the only opening is 3 weeks from now, and even when he does get to see his physician, it’s a quick 15 minutes and back out the door.

So, the answer that some doctors have come up with is to cut their patient load significantly and charge the remaining patients a hefty annual fee (often thousands of dollars) to make up the financial deficit. While this screams of elitist, luxury benefits that only the well-to-do can afford, maybe even the wealthy are not ready for this type of health care model, nor is the service readily acceptable. Read here for more.

Or is it? Despite not enough interest and not-full-to-capacity practices, it seems that it’s still a viable and profitable enough business model for other busy Boston doctors to jump on the bandwagon. Is it fair for a doctor whom you’ve known for years to suddenly say, “Ok, if you want to keep me as your doctor, I’ll have to charge you an extra $3,600 a year”? Then, again, I’m relatively healthy and only see my primary care physician for my annual checkups. I don’t need that level of care. Is it worth it to the patient who has numerous medical issues and (unfortunately) is often elderly and on a fixed income? Can they afford it at a time in their lives when they really do need that highly attentive care, yet expect it to come from their own pocket? Is it setting up a bad precedent where a patient can “buy” his medical care in such a way he can now “order” his doctor when, where, for how long he wants to see him or what medication he wants to be on (because he did all the research on the Internet himself and that’s what he thinks he should be taking)? What do you think?

health care, concierge medicine,   Boston concierge practice, Boston doctor