[Taikonerd]

My big question about DPC is: what about people who just don't think about primary care until they have something wrong? How long is the wait list at that point? Or can they go see a doctor for $X as a one-off, without a subscription?

[jabroni_salad]

I still have a HDHP for intensive visits and if I go to local out of network Urgent Care for the narrow range of things Urgent Care is good for, it's like $50 tops.

[electric_mayhem]

If someone was hung up on only paying when they need care, the business model needs to support that would probably look a lot like an emergency room or urgent care facility.

For me, I consider it an astonishingly good value paying $1200 a year even when probably nine months out of the year I don’t even talk to them. Being a healthy dude I get proactive tests done twice a year to keep tabs on a couple dozen different metrics ($150 each round, all in) and inform any needed course corrections over time (early insight- vitamin d was low (previous insurance-based provider refused to order test). Later insight- eating trash and five drinks a day for 7 days at a vacation resort made basically every metric go to absolute shit; subsequently did an early test after a month of clean diet and regular exercise showed tremendous improvement across the board). And then when something random comes up I know they’re there for me.

If it sounds like the sort of thing, you might be into find a couple local providers and just have a conversation with them. I’ve yet to speak to a DPC provider that isn’t excited about the model and delighted to communicate its value to prospective customers.

It’s as close to concierge healthcare as I’ll ever able to afford and I absolutely adore that it removes the parasitic insurance from my primary care loop.