Meridian Springs Primary Care is a pioneer direct primary care clinic serving patients in The Woodlands, Tomball, Springs, North Houston and Conroe area. We are a membership based family medicine clinic that provides unlimited access to the doctor 24/7/365. Think Netflix but for Healthcare.
Direct primary care is a viable compliment to health insurance policies. It helps you spend your healthcare dollars on what matters most. With cost-saving measures, quality time with physicians, limited paperwork, and reduced stress, you can receive an optimum response to your health care needs without breaking the bank
Health insurance is the medium through which most American consumers can meet up with the payment costs of their health care providers. The concept is further subdivided into two different categories – public and private health insurance.
A major advantage of health insurance is its ability to provide full or partial coverage for a range of healthcare expenses, including specialist treatments, surgery, and trips to the emergency room. All these reasons are probably why this payment method has become popular over the years. Considering how expensive it would be to cover the cost of each trip to the hospital independently, it’s not surprising that most individuals prefer to go through the health insurance route. Additionally, private health insurance comes with a customizable template so you can get more personalized attention, access to more sophisticated facilities, or even choose to include your own doctor irrespective of whether or not he or she is included in the network of the health insurance carrier. Although this would increase the cost of your health plan, it allows you to be flexible in choosing what works for you.
There is no disputing the fact that health insurance has improved the quality of health care provided to consumers, however recent studies have shown that the supposed benefits of this option may only be visible at the surface; this suggests that there might be some negative factors attached to the use of health insurance.
What Are The Drawbacks Of Health Insurance?
1. High cost
A major drawback of health insurance is its high cost.
Individual policies cost hundreds of dollars per month, and family policies cost even higher. These pose a hindrance to average consumers who must rely on employer benefits to get coverage for the family. Those in poor health but fall within the low-income level (& don’t qualify for Medicare/Medicaid) find it unable to afford their copay and deductibles.
Without jumping over these hurdles, it would be impossible for consumers to utilize their insurance plan and what good is the coverage if it cannot cover the cost of your treatment?
2. Restrictions on Medical coverage
To avoid the problems posed by high premiums, some individuals choose to go with less expensive insurance policies. However, these plans often come with restrictions in the number and nature of visits and the choice of doctors, allowing only a predetermined doctor network. Most times, these limitations also extend to the treatment of specific illnesses or surgical procedures, requiring you to find alternative means of payments.
Although health insurance can be beneficial to consumers, it is evident that the cons far outweigh the pros when viewed from a different perspective. Now, what if there were other ways to pay for and meet your health care needs without health insurance or complimenting it?
Are There Alternatives To Traditional Health Insurance?
We all want the best things in lives but may not always want to pay more to get it, and for most policyholders, the goal is to pay less for more efficient medical care services.
If you are frustrated by the expensive costs of health insurance policies and are faced with the dilemma of wanting to stay covered without having to pay high monthly premiums, then it would interest you to know that there are other alternatives to health insurance.
Although health insurance can be beneficial to consumers, it is evident that the cons far outweigh the pros when viewed from a different perspective. Now, what if there were other ways to pay for and meet your health care needs without health insurance or complimenting it?
- Medical Cost Sharing / Healthsharing
A popular alternative is medical cost sharing, which allows a group of individuals to pay lower premiums throughout the year while sharing the cost of their medical bills. This option was usually taken by small, close-knit groups of people who are unable to afford more traditional health care policies. Now a days, the popularity of medical cost sharing has increased with the advent of non-faith-based options. Any individual or family can have access to medical cost sharing. It encourages its members to be active participants in the improvement of their own health.
Pros
• It is very cost-effective
• Customizable options are available for individual or family needs
Cons
• It is not an insurance. May not be able to meet very high cost treatments.
• Preexisting conditions are not shareable at least for the initial couple of years.
- High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) and Health Savings Account (HSA)
This is one of the most sought after alternatives as it provides a tax-advantage and customizable options.
The funds in a health savings account are tax exempt and can be used to pay for eligible medical expenses, such as co-pays or deductibles. It also helps that the account can be used with a high-deductible plan, which provides you with low premiums but high deductibles.
Pros
• It allows rollover of funds
• It has an easy retirement plan
• Multiple choices are available
• Accrued interest
Cons
• Risks
• Account limitations
• High deductible plan
Another way to cut loose from extremely expensive health insurance is to take advantage of the primary care memberships offered by direct primary care clinics. Some independent medical practices and family physicians provide patients with medical services on a monthly, quarterly, or annual fee that covers all or most of their primary care needs
- Direct primary care
Another way to cut loose from extremely expensive health insurance is to take advantage of the primary care memberships offered by direct primary care clinics. Some independent medical practices and family physicians provide patients with medical services on a monthly, quarterly, or annual fee that covers all or most of their primary care needs. The primary care membership is quite similar to a gym membership and registering for individual or family primary care provides you with virtually unlimited doctor visits, same day visits, in-clinic procedures, blood tests, and some emergency services, all with no co-pay. However, the option may need to be complimented with a low premium, high-deductible healthcare policy to cover the cost of major treatments, surgery, and hospitalization.
When compared to more traditional health insurance, direct primary care can provide you with the freedom to visit the doctor at your convenience without fear of huge costs or an inability to pay. Also, the lower costs allow you to save towards more pressing needs rather than breaking the bank for a simple medical procedure. Of all the alternatives discussed, direct primary care remains the most advantageous, and to this end, we will explore its various benefits.
Benefits of Direct Primary Care
• Direct primary care helps foster a stronger relationship between patients and their physicians.
• Allows physicians to spend more individual time with patients.
• It eliminates the need for excessive paperwork since no insurance claims need to be made,
• It reduces the number of staff employed to run a medical practice, thus increasing revenue.
• Allows you to combine high deductible health plan or medical cost sharing and enjoy full coverage at a very low cost.
• Reduction in waiting time or zero wait time
• Allows patients to schedule same-day appointments for basic health problems.
• Eliminates the need to use expensive health insurance by reducing the costs of primary care services
• Less stress for both physicians and patients, leading to greater consumer satisfaction and improved productivity.
Conclusion
Direct primary care is a viable compliment to health insurance policies. It helps you spend your healthcare dollars on what matters most. With cost-saving measures, quality time with physicians, limited paperwork, and reduced stress, you can receive an optimum response to your health care needs without breaking the bank
Tomball TX 77375