Comments on: Should concierge care be regulated?

By: David

David — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 21:14:00 +0000

Another option may simply be providing poor care. While I pride myself on doing an excellent job, if extortion is the game being played, I may decide to give as little as possible. Two minutes for a follow up visit? – no problem – its a Medicare patient. I think I would mentally suffer doing this – eliminating my pride in my work – but ethically it is not a problem. Again, see what you get when you try forcing physicians to think and act according to your dictates.

By: John

John — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 04:58:00 +0000

Anon. 6:12:

I think you are right. I think the public, through their representatives, will try to get whatever can be had on terms as close to expropriation as possible. They won't be pioneers. Europe had sixty years of that sad experiment. But don't worry, good quality of care will still be available. On the black market.

Bring a couple of kilos of coffee and some sausages at your next office visit. I'll see what we can do to move your appointment up a couple of weeks.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 23:12:00 +0000

Society grants physicians the privilege to practice medicine. Through the licensing and credentialling process, it can certainly place requirements such as participation in a national insurance program. Mandatory participation exists and has survived court challenges in Canada. It was part of the program proposed by Hillary Clinton in 1994. It will certainly be part of the reform that we are about to see. The American people don’t care what rights you believe will be violated by this. They want what you have, and they’ll take it for as little as possible. The government is now telling them that they can have it for nothing. Who are you to stand in their way? And can you wait for the years it might take for a court challenge?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 15:20:00 +0000

Agreed JB, Brooks is a salesman for a small percentage of elective surgical patients. He will make money by cherry picking. As an aside. I find it curious kevin that you allow this sales pitch yet censor out posts you don’t agree with. Your website site has definitely decreased in quality as evidenced by fewer post replies.

By: jb

jb — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 07:25:00 +0000

They WILL find a way to regulate concierge/retainer practices out of business. “They” being the unholy alliance of government bureaucrats and insurance companies who can not and will not tolerate any type of profitable medical transaction without their rent-seeking participation.

Aside to Mr Brooks: Thanks for the comic relief. Next time you get a chance, take a walk down the halls of any acute care hospital in the USA. Probable 10-15% of the customers there could physically tolerate a trip overseas to manage whatever they are hospitalized for; and half of that number are indigents and will need to borrow cab fare for the ride home. Your company will likely make a profit on the 2-3% of the patients that fit your business model, so don’t be discouraged, but your post is marketing for your company, not a contribution to solving this problem.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 20:12:00 +0000

I will not be a slave. For over 2000 years, physicians have been free to chose whom they serve. In that time republics, kingdoms, and empires have risen and fell and that right remained intact. No tyranny has violated it until modern times.

That we even consider it here, that it is a fact in some "liberal democracies" is a testament to the ultimate triumph of the fundamental ideas of fascism, even without the truncheons and jackboots.

The Supreme Court has proven itself no gurantee against unconstitutional tyranny. It's members take the same oath to uphold the constitution as those in the other branches of government, and have proven themselves no more reliable in keeping it.

The American people have proven themselves unworthy of liberty, eager to trade it for imagined security at every turn. Without support from the people, the limited government and liberty of our forefathers was lost long ago.

My only path is to chose where in the fabric of this society I will live and I am commited to living as free within it as I can. If I can not live free as a doctor but can as a circus geek, then a circus geek I will be.

By: Rogue Medic

Rogue Medic — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 08:50:00 +0000

Hmm. Doctors are leaving the Medicare system, because of the many problems specific to Medicare. The solution is to force them to participate, rather than fix the problems?

The people, who recognize the problems, are not the problems.

The people, who come up with alternatives, are not the problems

By: secretwave101

secretwave101 — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 06:11:00 +0000

Concierge medicine may or may not be actually sustainable.

The thought that government would mandate how I practice medicine is creepy.

It's beyond Gestapo.

By: Steven D. Knope, M.D.

Steven D. Knope, M.D. — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 01:15:00 +0000

The idea that doctors who offer fee-for-service medical care on a retainer basis are somehow “operating insurance companies without a license” is a ruse. Even if the insurance commissioner plays this political card in Maryland, there will be other ways to structure direct relationships between doctors and patients. Laws regarding payment for concierge doctors vary from state-to-state, but nowhere is it outlawed.

This is a scare tactic meant to control doctors. It is purely political. The day that the U.S. government attempts to force doctors to work for Medicare or Medicaid will be step one on the path to a Supreme Court battle that cannot be won by Uncle Sam.

Steven D. Knope, M.D.
Author, Concierge Medicine; A New System to Get the Best Heatlhcare.
(Greenwood/Praeger, 2008)
stevenknope@msn.com
http://www.conciergemedicinemd.com

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 23:01:00 +0000

"The quality is just as good, and in many cases even better, than US counterparts, with highly trained professionals and a technological infrastructure that is often better than what may be available in many US hospitals."

Spoken like somebody with no affiliation to a medical tourism company. No, really.

Good luck catching a plane back to India when your hip replacement gets infected and no orthopedic surgeon here will touch it since they'd be the only ones who could be sued for malpractice.