The New York Times has posted an interesting article on boutique or concierge doctors. A concierge doctor is basically one that sees fewer patients in exchange for much higher fees. Some of these fees surmount to 10,000 dollars a year or even higher. The doctors do and explain everything to the patients for as long as it takes. Some will even make house calls. Other doctors have even chosen to include “scholarships” for patients that cannot afford the extrememly high fees (the exact number of patients that receive these I am assuming is low).
To me this basically amounts to greed and only greed. There is enough of a disparity between the rich and the poor in the country. All concierge doctors will do is widen the gap that is already present. When did “regular medicine” in this country turn into the equivalent of buying a KIA? In my opinion, a doctor should offer equal treatment to everyone that he or she sees. With a doctor shortage in this country already present the last thing needed doctors taking less patients. What is going to happen if one day 50% of medical students become concierge doctors? How will people who cannot afford treatment get proper medical care? There should not be a luxury model on medicine. Giving patients the right attention, calling them with results, and checking up on them should not be an extra charge, it should be a duty. Every patient has the right to all those things and shouldn’t have to save up so that they can get good medical care. The doctors in the article complain of having too large a number of patients. Why not reduce the number patients? The doctors see more patients to make more money. Doctors deserve a good salary for the work that they do, but there is a line where one will eventually cross from being a caregiver to a businessman. That is the line I believe these boutique doctors have not only crossed, but ran miles past. This is an article that everyone pre-med student should take a close look at.
2 comments:
Yeah, there is something definitely wrong with this situation. The problem lies in the fact that there is this idea that medicine is a commodity that can be divided into luxurious and economic models like plane tickets. In reality, however, medicine, like education is something that everyone in the public should have equal access to as it is a human right.
This is why we NEED a single payer health care system so that the poor are not exploited. A single payer health care system works in ever other developed country control costs and exploitation
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