On Manhattan’s Upper East Side an imaging center exists and patients may not know it, but there are two doors. One door is for patients who are paying cash - a concierge type set-up. The other door is for patients covered by insurance.
The investigative report can be read on MSNBC’s Web site. Just click here.
The reporter sent in two women for mammograms. One offered her insurance as payment, and the other paid in cash. There were several subtle differences in care in terms of how long it took to book an appointment and how long they waited in the waiting room. The woman paying cash had her mammogram read immediately by a doctor and was told her scan was negative. The other woman, with insurance, had to wait nine days for her results.
A written policy at the clinic forbids those who work there from discussing the two-door setup.
Art Caplan, director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania, says he is disturbed by these findings. “If you have to have a system where you need to bribe your way with the doctor to get a few minutes of conversation or a retake of your screening examination because they may not be satisfied with the way it came out, that’s a very broken healthcare system,” explains Caplan.
Caplan says concierge medicine is biting into the quality of care if you’re not paying a premium. “That’s unethical. It’s immoral. It’s just flat-out wrong.”
December 1st, 2009 at 2:22 pm
This article points out a dilemma this country will face if it ever adopts a health reform program that assures a standard level of insurance coverage to all its citizens. Western European countries that have such coverage allow those who wish access and coverage above that mandated to purchase private insurance that assures greater accessibility to health care providers. That relieves the pressure to give more than the basic coverage can provide to those who wish to pay for it.