As Obamacare policies have gone into effect, more and more people are realizing their quality of care has been sacrificed. They are unable to schedule an appointment with their doctor, and their insurance covers little of what it used to.
Unfortunately, the Affordable Health Care Act could have used more work before going into effect, and both the doctors and patients are suffering. As people and government officials are beginning to realize, the solution to healthcare cannot be fitted with a one size fits all package.
As a result, direct primary healthcare (private healthcare) and concierge medicine is growing in popularity amongst both physicians and patients. Here are three reasons why.
1. Private Healthcare – Patient Comes First
For most doctors, they chose the medical profession to help people. While they used to be able to spend more time with patients, under the Affordable Healthcare Act, hospitals and public doctors’ offices are too inundated for physicians to spend any longer than the bare minimum with their patients.
But in private healthcare arena, doctors are able to give their patients the time they need to feel comfortable with the doctor, understand their diagnosis, and learn how to cope with the prognosis. Doctors are able to cultivate relationships with their patients, feeling like they are making a difference in people’s lives.
2. Private Healthcare – A Cure For Nation’s Physician Shortage?
With the new healthcare policy, many doctors are retiring early from fatigue and exasperation. Simultaneously, medical practices are being inundated with newly insured patients. But now with a shortage of physicians, hospital waiting rooms are becoming something of a nightmare for both the patients and the doctors. And, it is predicted that by 2020, the US will be anywhere from 50,000 to 100,000 doctors short.
But in a direct primary care model / private healthcare, doctors work with insurance rather than for insurance companies. Concierge medical clinics allow for fewer patients and more time during visits. This improves career satisfaction for medical professionals and helps to lengthen their careers. And direct primary care / private healthcare tends to succeed at preventative care, which in turn helps to decrease the number of emergency cases in the waiting room.
3. Private Healthcare – Growing Stronger
With each passing day, new holes seem to be exposed in the government insurance exchange system. As such, private healthcare is growing in popularity because medicine is back to the traditional thought of helping people rather than being bogged down with middleman insurance policies.
More corporations are considering offering private healthcare as part of their benefits package because they cannot afford to provide their employees’ healthcare under the current rates. Either they have to let go of some employees in order to accommodate healthcare packages, or they seek out other options. And private healthcare makes sense as a less expensive and usually higher quality of care alternative.
Though some physicians have ditched public healthcare, they have not fully embraced concierge healthcare / private healthcare either. They have created hybrid models to test the waters and provide options for a greater number of needy patients. So far though, most of these hybrid options have led doctors to fully embrace the direct primary model.
Private healthcare seems to be changing the face of healthcare by providing better and more personal relationships between doctors and patients.
Image Source: www.netdoctor.co.uk
Jessica Socheski is a writer who enjoys researching healthcare reform and quality care. You can find her on Google+.
