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Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
SAN FRANCISCO — When John Battelle's teenage son broke his leg at a suburban soccer game, naturally the first call his parents made was to 911. The second was to Dr. Jordan Shlain, the concierge doctor here who treats Mr. Battelle and his family. "They're taking him to a local hospital," Mr. Battelle's wife, Michelle, told Dr. Shlain as the boy rode in an ambulance to a nearby emergency room in Marin County. "No, they're not," Dr. Shlain instructed them. "You don't want that leg set by an E.R. doc at a local medical center. You want it set by the head of orthopedics at a hospital in the city." Within minutes, the ambulance was on the Golden Gate Bridge, bound for California Pacific Medical Center, one of San Francisco's top hospitals. Dr. Shlain was there to meet them when they arrived, and the boy was seen almost immediately by an orthopedist with decades of experience.
For Mr. Battelle, a veteran media entrepreneur, the experience convinced him that the annual fee he pays to have Dr. Shlain on call is worth it, despite his guilt over what he admits is very special treatment. "I feel badly that I have the means to jump the line," he said. "But when you have kids, you jump the line. You just do. If you have the money, would you not spend it for that?"
Increasingly, it is a question being asked in hospitals and doctor's offices, especially in wealthier enclaves in places like Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco and New York. And just as a virtual velvet rope has risen between the wealthiest Americans and everyone else on airplanes, cruise ships and amusement parks, widening inequality is also transforming how health care is delivered. Money has always made a big difference in the medical world: fancier rooms at hospitals, better food and access to the latest treatments and technology. Concierge practices, where patients pay several thousand dollars a year so they can quickly reach their primary care doctor, with guaranteed same-day appointments, have been around for decades.
But these aren't the concierge doctors you've heard about — and that's intentional.
Dr. Shlain's Private Medical group does not advertise and has virtually no presence on the web, and new patients come strictly by word of mouth. But with annual fees that range from $40,000 to $80,000 (more than 10 times what conventional concierge practices charge), the suite of services goes far beyond 24-hour access or a Nespresso machine in the waiting room.
Indeed, as many Americans struggle to pay for health care — or even, with the future of the Affordable Care Act in question on Capitol Hill, face a loss of coverage — this corner of what some doctors call the medical-industrial complex is booming: boutique doctors and high-end hospital wards.
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(Score: 5, Insightful) by NewNic on Monday June 05 2017, @05:13PM (6 children)
Translation:
"You don't want that leg set by someone who does that all day long, you want it done by someone who does it occasionally."
Seriously, this is snake oil being sold to the wealthy. It's not like setting a broken limb requires some kind of rare special skill. They guy who does it all the time is probably better at it.
lib·er·tar·i·an·ism ˌlibərˈterēənizəm/ noun: Magical thinking that useful idiots mistake for serious political theory
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Thexalon on Monday June 05 2017, @05:21PM (1 child)
Yeah, but at the ER, you're going to have to sit around *gasp* waiting your turn among *bigger gasp* poor people! You might even end of conversing with one of them! The horror!
This is, however, one of the major reasons the rich don't want universal health care in the US: They don't get to go to the finest specialists for relatively minor problems while somebody else is dying of liver failure.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 3, Informative) by isostatic on Monday June 05 2017, @07:10PM
This is, however, one of the major reasons the rich don't want universal health care in the US: They don't get to go to the finest specialists for relatively minor problems while somebody else is dying of liver failure.
You really think that the rich in the UK don't have access to the finest specialists? OK, if they get run over while out shopping they'll be treated by a world class healthcare system, at least until they are well enough to be transferred, however for anything they consciously decide they'll be off to private hospitals.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by VLM on Monday June 05 2017, @06:05PM
I suppose that assumes
is the same as
I donno man, around here they spend a lot of time trying to avoid giving pills to addicts, all medical care of all kinds for all illegals, stabilize and admit trauma and heart condition patients, quite a few lacerations...
And the local ER is attached to a hospital, stabilize and admit would imply the local orthopedic would set a leg after the car accident bleeding stopped and the patient was admitted.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 05 2017, @07:26PM
I agree, rather than being upset about how life is unfair, all I see is "Rich people scammed even more by healthcare providers than poor people".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 05 2017, @08:12PM
That is what crossed my mind, at $80k a year it sounds like this doctor is taking his rich patients for a ride.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by kaszz on Monday June 05 2017, @11:21PM
Translation: You don't want a overworked medical student to do the job when a person that isn't sleep deprived and has experience can do it.