With medicine becoming a cartel with sprawling medical networks, the tests become synonymous with cheese on a fast food burger — an extra quarter.
We have a old school PPO plan. My wife can go to the doctor for any purpose, and sure as hell there’s a pregnancy test for $5. If you’re on a statin, you’re worth about $600/year in lab tests. Not because of insurance companies, but because the GP or NP is the top of a sales funnel. They need to drive revenue in the network as the medical networks are less efficient.
The insurance company response is urgent care clinics, which the insurance companies spent millions lobbying for. Those are great for insurance because they hand out z-packs and nebulizers and send you home. Large employers self insure drugs, so it’s a profit center for everyone. Best part for them is the 32 year old unhealthy dude stays away from the both the outrageous ER and the GP and that statin prescription.
Urgent care centers are about keeping people out of the ER--patients with medical issues that shouldn't really wait to get in with their primary, but which don't rise to ER-level issues.
We have a old school PPO plan. My wife can go to the doctor for any purpose, and sure as hell there’s a pregnancy test for $5. If you’re on a statin, you’re worth about $600/year in lab tests. Not because of insurance companies, but because the GP or NP is the top of a sales funnel. They need to drive revenue in the network as the medical networks are less efficient.
The insurance company response is urgent care clinics, which the insurance companies spent millions lobbying for. Those are great for insurance because they hand out z-packs and nebulizers and send you home. Large employers self insure drugs, so it’s a profit center for everyone. Best part for them is the 32 year old unhealthy dude stays away from the both the outrageous ER and the GP and that statin prescription.