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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.
-- submitted from IRC
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 05 2017, @05:14PM (13 children)
If you were the filthy rich guy, would you want to be denied special treatment though you were willing and able to pay for it ? No, you'd want the special treatment and you'd get it.
I'm not saying I like this, but the people who are going to whine about it have the maturity level of a young child. Life is NOT fair, and some people will always have advantages in various situations. To seek and desire an advantage is a core component of human nature. Only fools would try to remove all advantages and make everyone equal, because the truth is that all humans are NOT FUCKING EQUAL. Some are superior, some are inferior, and this is reality.
However, in the end, the grim reaper is even-handed in dealing with us all, whether we are homeless or billionaires. If you don't think this is true, just ask Steve Jobs.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Monday June 05 2017, @06:03PM (1 child)
Actually, if you're poor in this country, the grim reaper tends to visit you sooner.
As for the rest, wallow in the cesspool and call it a spa treatment if you want, but that's not how change happens.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Monday June 05 2017, @09:36PM
> if you're poor in this country, the grim reaper tends to visit you sooner.
"Nobody's ever died from not having access to healthcare" [cbsnews.com] - Some (R) elected dimwit.
(I know he meant ERs will take you in anyway, but it's so amazingly wrong in so many ways...)
(Score: 2) by Sulla on Monday June 05 2017, @07:37PM (4 children)
Can't wait to see this argument applied to private schools too. I am currently succeeding at life with my family bringing in 80k+/year, this is plenty enough to send my kids to good private school.
My city has a problem with transients and it is causing big problems with our wait times. My kid split his chin on pavement when playing and we waited four hours to get in and get stitches as he bled and screamed. Paying a little extra to not deal with this would be worth it if I thought it would happen more than one a year. For minor problems there is urgent care which is a plenty good option.
Really wishing there was some way to knock on internet wood right now.
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 05 2017, @08:15PM
You must live in a really cheap area. $80k/yr is enough to live without fear / anxiety if you're single, but with a family private schooling would probably take all extra cash. Is the private school worth losing the money on savings? I have yet to see private school students excel beyond their public school counterparts, and the savings from would easily be enough to send them to college.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 06 2017, @02:11AM (2 children)
Split skin is a minor problem. ERs are when you're full of gunshot holes, had your clothing melt onto your skin when you were on fire, were poisoned, or had your body mangled in a car crash. ERs are for things that are going to kill you soon. The most life threatening thing about your kid's issue was if dirty dirt got into the wound and he developed an infection later on.
You wouldn't have had to deal with it if you had sought out the proper level of treatment for the injury. There you would have maintained your place in line rather than being constantly bumped down whenever someone dying came in. Most ERs are overworked because medical professionals are super idiots requiring way too long shifts and because the poor can get free treatment there for anything. Avoid ERs whenever you can.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 06 2017, @03:03AM (1 child)
Slow treatment causes worse scars. People with scars are seen as being less-attractive and lower class.
This has subtle effects throughout your life. It changes the probability of different outcomes every time people judge you, even for stuff that should be unrelated.
It affects: whether the cop arrests you or sets you free, whether the jury convicts you or not, whether you are hire or not, whether you are promoted or not, whether you get a date or not, whether the doctors put in much effort next time or not (hey, already ugly as fuck...), whether you are suspected of shoplifting or not, whether your spouse stays with you or not...
It's like having a facial tattoo, being a disfavored race, having a lazy eye, or being really fat. You might never know when the feature tips the balance against you, but sometimes it will.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday June 06 2017, @11:36AM
Bullshit. Chicks dig scars.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Monday June 05 2017, @11:14PM (4 children)
And some (many?) of the wealthiest 1% are inferior
It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 05 2017, @11:50PM (1 child)
What a convincing argument! You must be right.
Kind of surprised you didn't go with the all-powerful "NUH UH" comeback.
(Score: 2) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Tuesday June 06 2017, @04:45AM
It wasn't an argument, it was an unsolicited clarification.
It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 06 2017, @04:53AM (1 child)
"And some (many?) of the wealthiest 1% are inferior"
.
.
Have you ever seen some fat older bald guy with a beautiful woman who is half his age on his arm ?
Be sure to walk up and tell the woman that the guy is inferior, next time you see such a couple.
I'm sure you will leave with the beautiful woman. And then you will wake up and find you were dreaming and the old rich guy still has that woman and you don't have shit.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 06 2017, @08:58AM
She knows it. But its not HIM she's after!
He knows it too. That's why he is so after money.
Without money, he probably ranks below a skid-row homeless in sexual attractiveness.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 06 2017, @05:11PM
Maybe we should quote this to one of those fucking rich billionaires just before we cut their head off and steal their stuff? Just sayin'.