http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/011015/151094_1.html ********************* But employees at small businesses are suffering more. Steve Youtsey and his wife, Elaine, the sole employees of New Mexico Surveying outside Albuquerque, are facing a doubling of their monthly premium, to $794 from $396, for insurance they buy through a coalition of small businesses. Part of the increase was based on their age - in their early 50's. And Ms. Youtsey has medical problems that would not be covered if the couple transferred to another insurer, so they could not shop around for lower rates, Mr. Youtsey said. "We were just stuck."
In Pueblo County, Colo., where hospital charges have soared, insurance premiums are doubling for many state employees. David Scott Sandoval, a technician in the accounting department at the University of Southern Colorado, said his monthly premium would rise to $549 from $258 in December to cover him, his wife and two children.
"People are going to have to leave their jobs and go bankrupt," he said. "They are going to be putting people in the streets."
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/16/business/16HEAL.html
Paul B. Ginsburg, president of Health System Change, a nonpartisan research group in Washington, said premiums were going up faster than the insurance companies' costs. He said the insurers were still playing catchup after four lean years from 1996 to 1999 when premiums did not cover costs.
[So they operated below cost while they drove out the non-profits and otherwise became firmly entrenched. I can't get perscriptions at CVS anymore. Apparently Humana considers their customers traffic to be of value so they expect the drugstores to provide scripts below cost and CVS wouldn't go along . I imagine the process will become centralized in some way. And employ fewer people.] ************* Published on Saturday, August 25, 2001 by the Associated Press
Going Backwards
Doctors Serve Wealthy for a Price
by Allison Linn
SEATTLE –– If David Heerensperger isn't feeling well, he calls Dr.
Howard Maron on the physician's personal cell phone, whether it's 3
a.m. on a weekday or noon on a weekend.
And Maron will happily make a house call to the 65-year-old
executive or send a nurse to his patient's office for tests. And
he'll guarantee same-day results.
The catch? Maron and his partner, Dr. I. Scott Hall, charge patients
up to $20,000 a year in cash for primary care.
Maron compares his Seattle practice to private golf courses or
expensive restaurants.
Dr.Howard Maron, poses for a portrait,Wednesday, Aug. 15,
2001, in Seattle, with his partner Dr. I. Scott Hall in the
background. Maron and his Hall charge patients up to $20,000 a
year in cash for the privilege of opting out of the
overcrowded health-care system. Maron compares his practice to
private golf courses or expensive restaurants; perks, he says,
that come with being wealthy. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
It's a growing trend. Five years after opening his practice MD2
(pronounced MD-squared) in Seattle, Maron is planning to open as
many as 100 franchises across the country. An increasing number of
doctors nationwide are beginning to charge anywhere from $1,500 to
$20,000 to let richer patients opt out of traditional health-care
headaches.
Patients say they are spared the frustration of long waits for
appointments, rushed, impersonal treatment and delayed lab results.
With traditional health care, Heerensperger says, "the prices are
going up so much and the service is so bad, that this is just
great."
"I'm fortunate to be able to pay for it," said Heerensperger, who
runs a chain of lighting stores.
Doctors say it gives them more free time, and lets them spend more
time with patients without budget-conscious insurance companies
looking over their shoulders.
Maron said he got the idea while traveling as the team doctor for
the Seattle SuperSonics. He noticed the athletes got VIP care while
the rich team owners struggled with the frustrations of traditional
health care.
"I thought, 'Isn't it ironic that a player can get a response like
that, while the wealthy and the powerful have to sit in ER waiting
rooms as if they are a nobody – or an everybody?'" Maron says.
Other medical professionals sympathize with the frustrations of the
current health-care system. Lowered insurance reimbursements mean
that many doctors' salaries are decreasing as their patient loads
are increasing.
But they question whether most physicians would be comfortable
practicing "concierge care."
"I don't think they're unethical, but I don't think they take into
account the overall needs of the community," said Frank Riddick, a
New Orleans physician and chairman of the American Medical
Association's council on ethical and judicial affairs.
Critics, including patients dropped by doctors who switched to the
new system, complain that such services hurt those who can't afford
it. In Florida, some politicians have called for an end to such
practices.
Duane Dobrowits, the CEO of MD2, is a former patient of Maron's who
couldn't afford to switch to the $20,000-a-year model. He asks of
critics, "Are you angry because doctors are doing this or are you
angry because you can't have this?"
Maron says he's never run a charitable practice.
"None of these doctors is Mother Theresa," he said. "We're not
saints. We're just practicing medicine."
At his peak, Maron says he was seeing 20 to 30 patients a day from a
roster of 4,000. Now he has fewer than 100 patients and he may see
one or two a day. In addition, his salary has increased
considerably.
"It's allowed me to focus on being a doctor again," says Robert
Colton, who left his private practice in Boca Raton, Fla., last year
to start MDVIP, which charges $1,500 a year above regular insurance
and per-visit fees to keep his patient load down to 600.
"I can spend more time with patients," Colton said. "I can see them
whenever they're ill."
MD2 has only primary care physicians, whom patients can see an
unlimited number of times after paying their annual fee. Specialists
must be paid by the client's personal insurance, but Maron said they
often give MD2 clients preferential treatment.
"It's a point of pride because our patients are a lot of the movers
and shakers in the city," said Maron, who accompanies his patients
when they visit specialists.
William Dowling, chairman of the department of health services at
the University of Washington's School of Public Health, says such
practices are a natural product of the U.S. health-care system.
"Some people can afford to pay more to get prompt service, and so
the marketplace will respond by some physicians providing that
service," Dowling said.
Said Colton, who is looking at opening other MDVIP
(http://www.mdvip.com) branches across the country: "That's what's
great about America, that you have choice, that you don't have
socialized medicine here."
Riddick says very few people can afford to pay for such services,
and there will always be new doctors willing to take on patients
dropped by physicians switching to pricey practices.
Meanwhile, MD2, which opened a second office in Bellevue, is
considering doctors in Portland, Ore., Chicago and Denver. Dobrowits
says he's convinced the model will thrive, even despite the weakened
economy.
"We don't need tons of millionaires," he quips. "We just need enough
millionaires to run our business."
© Copyright 2001 The Associated Press