Re: Medical Discount Program Part 4b - Articles on HealthAccessRI --> membership discount program for limited medical services at a discounted price [1 Attachment]

[Guest guest]

For those with a bit higher income, they could pay $50/mo and still get

access and have a high deductible insurance for catastrophic care. Pts

would pay $600/mo to their PCP.

I may be doing the math incorrectly, but if one doc had 100 pts paying

$600/yr, that would be $60,000. If one doc had 200 such pts, the income

would be double. This model

would be very doable for any primary care doctor. And for pts. Even with

400 pts which would be reasonable for any IMP, income would be so much

higher than any of us make now.

And then pts can get generic drugs and we need a low cost lab. Not sure

it would work for pts with multiple serious problems but would work for

many.

Ellen son, MD

Locke wrote:

> [Attachment(s) <#TopText> from Locke included below]

>

> Interesting article here…

>

>

http://www.law.uh.edu/healthlaw/perspectives/2008/(AK)%20Health%20Access%20RI.pd\

f

>

<http://www.law.uh.edu/healthlaw/perspectives/2008/%28AK%29%20Health%20Access%20\

RI.pdf>

>

> Paragraph from the article…

>

> The beauty of the Health Access RI plan is that it provides for timely

> and affordable primary care. It meets an unmet need, and it is likely

> to appeal to a large population if similar programs emerge in

> different states. However, the more popular the product becomes, the

> less useful it will be. Physician groups will either end up having to

> change the rules about how timely the access will be, or they will

> have to limit the number of members in their office, leading to a

> supply/demand problem that could raise prices for the plans, thus

> undermining their affordability. For now, Health Access RI looks like

> a step in the right direction, but it will be interesting to see how

> this innovation holds up as implementation proceeds.

>

>

http://www.projo.com/news/content/HEALTH_CARE_REFORM_IN_STATE_02-25-10_2PHIP24_v\

5.3988414.html

>

<http://www.projo.com/news/content/HEALTH_CARE_REFORM_IN_STATE_02-25-10_2PHIP24_\

v5.3988414.html>

>

> snip-snip

>

> Dr. D. Fine also thinks Rhode Island could, if necessary, go

> it alone. Fine is the founder and director of HealthAccessRI, a

> program under which uninsured people pay a monthly fee to have access

> to a primary-care doctor. It’s not insurance; the fee provides you a

> doctor but not drugs, tests or specialty treatment. Only 600 to 700

> people have signed up with the 17 participating practices in

> HealthAccessRI, fewer than expected. People, Fine says, don’t

> understand the value of primary care.

>

> Fine thinks that Rhode Island could care for the uninsured by

> expanding on the HealthAccessRI concept. An organized system of

> primary care, offering services such as mental health, dental care and

> nutrition, with offices open into the evening and on weekends, would

> prevent so much illness and unnecessary care that it would quickly

> lower costs by 30 percent to 40 percent, Fine says.

>

> Although he welcomes many of the proposed federal reforms, Fine

> doesn’t think they’re necessary. “Rhode Island can solve the problem

> on the local level,” Fine says. “We can do the whole thing.”

>

> Locke, MD

>

>

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