Subscriber to a Prescriber
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Subscriber to a Prescriber
Are you a patient or a Subscriber?
Do you subscribe to a monthly service? This might be a movie channel like Netflix, a cable TV service, a box that arrives monthly in your mailbox, or an app for your phone you can’t live without.
What’s the real cost of your monthly doctor’s visits? Have you ever stopped to think about how much you’re spending? Who is getting what?
A thought occurred to me as I was pondering doctors, medications, and such. As I was talking to some neighbors at a campground this morning, the wife of the couple was telling me about how she has to keep going back to her doctor to get her prescription right, because there have been issues. On one visit, the meds didn’t make her feel right. On another visit, the meds didn’t treat her original issue. And yet another visit added more prescriptions to her daily routine. I asked if she had a Netflix subscription. She said yes, and wondered how I got to this from her talking about meds and doctors. I asked if she had any other monthly subscriptions, and she named a couple but was getting a bit irritated that now I seemed totally off-topic. I asked if she considered her visits to the doctor’s office a subscription, and she looked at me with both amazement and grief at the same time. I didn’t have to explain it, because she got it right away. Let me expand. Her copay for both the visit and the medications is a monthly subscription. She just never saw it that way before our morning coffee. Let’s turn it to you now.
What does your monthly subscription cost you?
You have to take time off from work for the appointment, and this costs you either in personal time spent, or actual money out of your pocket for lost wages
You have drive time to and from, and often our doctors aren’t close by. Sometimes, we accept traveling to get “the right doctor.”
With your travel, there is a cost of fuel, insurance, maintenance, etc. Fuel isn’t your only transportation cost.
You’re waiting in a room full of people, and you’re very likely not getting an on-time appointment, and neither are they.
Depending on results, you will typically end up with another prescription, and orders to “return in a couple of weeks or next month to see how the new meds do.”
You likely make a visit to the pharmacy, with at least another copay, and definitely more travel expenses.
You get a bill a few weeks later for charges not covered by your insurance, and now payable directly to the doctor, else your balance ise reported on your credit.
If you’re doing this frequently, often monthly, then realize you’re trapped in a subscription. At a minimum, you have a copay. My guess is you’re spending $50 out of pocket, not including all the driving, time off work, etc. That’s just copays for the visit and meds.
Did you know that you can start a doctor’s office? Yes, you. Rent a building, decorate it accordingly, hire doctors, nurses, and receptionists, lease a photocopier, spend money on utilities, go through the necessary license requirements to operate a business, pay business taxes, and boom…you’re in business. This is an oversimplification of a very complex industry, but those are the nuts and bolts. How do you pay for this new office? Well, the customer either has insurance, or they do not. Presuming they do, you make them pay a copay. Let’s say that’s $35. $10 is carved out directly to the doctor being seen. $10 pays rent. $10 pays for the office staff, and $5 pays for utilities. These are all very basic numbers, but you get the point. That’s just a copay. The actual visit is billed to your insurance company, and that can be hundreds or thousands. Either way, if your insurance company doesn’t cover all of the bills, then you’re billed the balance. Often this can be as much as 20% or more of the actual visit. Alternatively, you have cash-paying clients. They pay the total bill, which is often reduced below what an insurance company pays. The caveat is most people have to pay that amount in full at the time of the visit. It’s rare, but offices can set up payment plans with clients they trust.
When you realize this doctor’s office is a business, and the more frequently that revolving door sees you coming in, the more they make. If you stopped going to that particular office, do you really believe you’ll be missed beyond your money? To answer this better, consider how many Christmas or birthday cards you got from them. Sure, they may be nice to you when they see your familiar face, but I’ll bet they didn’t send you a card. I’ll bet your insurance agent did though! Soon you might understand that you’re more than likely just another paying customer to them, and a face in the crowd. If you’re gone tomorrow, they’ll have someone else. I’m not saying doctors are heartless people who don’t have concerns for you. Of course, they do. But you’re likely not their best friend. If you were, they’d give you advice and a prescription without ever stepping foot in the building, right?
What’s the real cost of eating healthy now? What could that $50 buy you for a week’s worth of healthy food? At $10/lb grass finished steak, that’s 5lbs of steak. 16oz per day, 5 days. Cut that in half, and you have 2 meals a day for 5 days for $50. Now put all the other costs of travel associated with the doc visit towards travel to the grocery store, after work, when it’s more convenient to you. The store isn’t sending you a $200 bill for food your insurance company didn’t pay for. Before long, it doesn’t take much to realize how much our dietary intake is really costing us in dollars, especially if it’s a monthly subscription.
Now don’t get me wrong. Doctors serve a vital function. We cannot live without them. However, we can live without all the drugs and medical devices if we simply take control of our own health. This starts by paying much closer attention to the good things we put in our bodies to begin with rather than trying to control the symptoms from all the bad things we consume. As you dive deeper into the topic of what goes in, you’re going to learn some eye-opening information that is so simple, it may surprise you.