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Epiphany Healthcare in North Port, FL, is another member of our burgeoning direct care movement. American Enterprise Institute wrote about their model and included the price comparison table above. Two obvious points worth mentioning — ACA Bronze coverage DOES NOT do much for patients and still costs a serious amount of money. It might feel safe because it includes catastrophic coverage… But here at Atlas MD in Kansas, we’ve helped patients get wrap-around coverage with a $5,000 deductible for less than $150/mo… Meaning that with direct care and wrap-around coverage combined, we’re giving you more care, and security, for potentially the same price as a Bronze ACA plan.
Imagine filing a home insurance claim every time the neighbor’s kid cut your lawn. That’s how Epiphany physician Lee Gross sees the U.S. healthcare system: We use insurance for basic maintenance. Filing claims for a stubbed toe or cold has driven up the cost of health insurance in much the same way that filing claims for a fresh coat of paint or carpet cleaning would drive up the cost of home insurance.
“We are taking affordable primary care,” Gross says, “and bundling it together with a health insurance program that has to cover hospitalizations, chemotherapy, expensive surgeries, and end-of-life care.” The key to bringing down health insurance costs, he claims, is to divorce basic maintenance from insurance-based catastrophic, palliative, and chronic care.
We couldn’t agree more, doctor.