The following article attempts to underscore how truly awful Direct Primary Care really is because only rich people benefit while poor people end up having to seek primary care from fewer providers in dingy germ filled offices after waiting hours before seeing a doctor for a scant 5 minutes. How dare the rich do this to us!
The Concierge Catch: Better Access for a Few Patients Disrupts Care for Many
“You had to pay the fee, or the doctor wasn’t going to see you anymore.”
That was the takeaway for Terri Marroquin of Midland, Texas, when her longtime physician began charging a membership fee in 2019. She found out about the change when someone at the physician’s front desk pointed to a posted notice.
This story also ran on CBS News. It can be republished for free.
At first, she stuck with the practice; in her area, she said, it is now tough to find a primary care doctor who doesn’t charge an annual membership fee from $350 to $500.
But last year, Marroquin finally left to join a practice with no membership fee where she sees a physician assistant rather than a doctor. “I had had enough. The concierge fee kept going up, and the doctor’s office kept getting nicer and nicer,” she said, referring to the décor.
