How Much Does The Healthcare Exchange Rip Off Young Adults? They Ran The Numbers. The Results Are Grim.

Obamacare still needs more young people to sign up. This will offset the high cost of the older, and probably less healthy people who are joining Obamacare plans. Oh, but then the White House has to coerce a sufficient number of thirty-somethings to join, too. Problem is, the health plans don’t make economic sense for many of these young adults.

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America Spends The Most On Healthcare. Tell That To 3,900 People Who Just Lost Their Hospital Jobs.

Affected by reduced payments, hospitals in Pennsylvania cut 3,900 jobs from February 2013 to February 2014. Oh and more layoffs and budget cuts are expected, according to data from the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry and The Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania.

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INTERVIEW: R-Health Is Philly’s Newest Direct Care Facility

Mason Reiner, CEO & Co-founder of R-Health, a direct care startup in Philadelphia

Mason Reiner and Dr. Randy Robinson co-founded R-Health back in October 2013. The startup charges an Atlas MD-style monthly membership fee that grants access to see primary care doc with no co-pay or deductible. Individuals, employers, unions and small businesses are all eligible to participate.

Michael Hinkelman of Philly.com talked to Reiner recently.

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Posted by: AtlasMD

December 10, 2013

Direct Care Has A Brand New Face In Philadelphia

R Health in Philly launched their version of direct care back in August. Mason Reiner, the founder and CEO of the bootstrapped healthcare startup, says “[I saw] an opportunity to help consumers cut down on healthcare costs through more meaningful patient interactions and 24-hour access through telehealth.”

Welcome to the “wild” side of primary care, R Health. Wild if only because we’re willing to take big risks to earn big rewards. Rewards like quality relationships with our patients, and in our case even tweets like this:

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Posted by: AtlasMD

November 21, 2013

An Open Letter To Common Sense

Thank you, Todd Keefer (@FreeMktMonkey on Twitter)!

As is in flavor online, Todd Keefer recently composed his own Open Letter. His was addressed to Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner Michael F. Consedine. Keefer mentioned Atlas MD as an example of a realistic alternative to the current insurance scheme. He (and many others) believes that insurance companies profit not from providing care but by clever manipulation that stems, grossly, from participants’ own ignorance.

What we as a nation are up against is an ingrained idea that insurance is the only way to get good care. Our practice’s philosophy is a reaction to this mindset. A mindset that enables those in power to stay in power. This power comes both through the industry’s own influence (we’re talking billion dollar companies in some cases e.g. WellPoint and other large-scale conglomerates), but also through a “benevolent” administration that believes more insurance will somehow fix a flawed system.

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