More doctors charging patients annual fees

We pay a small annual fee at our pediatrician's. It allows them to provide additional services such as in-house labs, better weekend availability, etc.

More than worth it when you have a sick kid.

Talked with some docotrs about this, yesterday and today, all practitioners in private practice (our family doctor, our internist, our ophthalmologist, and mother's psychiatrist/neurologist and her geriatrist): they soon would have to close their practises due to the loos of patients if such would be done here.
(And they don't expect that any sane person would get the idea that ALL docotrs could do it.)




Such is the regular service here, with the normal compulsary health insurance/service. (Besides that doctors must have a 24/24 within a certain district by law, e.g. one or two pediatrics can be reached anytime in our county [300,000 inhabitants].)

there is one practioner in our city who is charging an annual fee of about $2,000 - to provide "additional services" , she says .
it will probably wind up in the courts since the canada heallth acts forbids such fees .
our problem is , that entrance to medical colleges was severely restricted about ten years ago - by the conservative government of the day - we now have a shortage of doctors ! (i've written about it earlier)
it's a problem that won't be remedied easily , even though medical graduates are recruited overseas and even in the united states - some ex-canadian doctors coming back .
i'm afraid the practice of an "annual fee" will become more widespread .
of course , everyone wants quick acess to the best medical care , but people don't seem to understand that with universal healthcare taxes - increased taxes - will have to pay for it .
hbg

For lots of retired folks, a few hundred dollars/person is alot.

Change Docs, fast if they start charging you a fee...

You know, Miller, it is not as easy as that. I live in a retirement community, with many people on Medicare H.M.O.s. I have known people who, over the years, have had to change doctors a number of times due to the doctors terminating their contracts with the HMOs due to poor payment.

It is one thing when a person is young, and goes for a doctor for some acute condition. In the elderly, the medical picture is usually much more complex, with a person having a laundry list of problems. It is important that the doctor knows the patient well, and understands his various medical conditions.

But if Seniors can't pay the fee, what are they supposed to do?

That's correct, Phoenix ..... and the reason, why no-one here would get the idea to introduce fees, since otherwise they would loose their patients (and especially the older patients "bring" a lot of money due to their various medical conditions).

No so! Most of the elderly are on either Medicaid or Medicare, both of which do not optimally pay Doctors for their services. Thus the MDs are thrown into financial distress, when these same individuals make up the majority of their patient load.

It is all a matter of priorities. If they really can't pay the fee, they have little choice but to change. I think though, that there are a lot of folks who might have to give up something else in order to receive top notch medical care.

I have an elderly friend who seems to have money to live in a modest way, but nicely. Her son the financial advisor, advised her to stay on an HMO, even though she has on occasion, had to "jump through hoops". She has complex medical problems. (I often wonder if he has his own agenda).

As far as I am concerned, I think that medical care is a priority. I would rather do without something else, than have to be locked into seeing only those doctors that my insurance mandated.

Yes, freedom of choice should be a priorty.