Snappy newsletters. Simple Facebook sharing. Spirited comments. Sweet features are waiting… GET THEM NOW!

Hot on Facebook
Guy Buys $123 Safe on eBay, Finds $26,000 Inside Seller tries to get half the cash back, fails »

At One Clinic, Two Standards of Care

Separate entrance, faster service for those who pay out of pocket

By Harry Kimball,  Newser Staff

Posted Nov 23, 2009 12:12 PM CST
Email

(Newser) – At one New York City radiology clinic you get what you pay for—there are different names, different doors, and very different experiences for those paying with insurance and those shelling out their own cash. MSNBC found that on the insurance side, appointments can take 15 days to schedule, the wait in the office is long, the service impersonal, and patients don’t even meet with a doctor to learn results.

On the “boutique” side, it's two days for an appointment, no wait, comfy robes, and a visit from the doctor. Insurance pays the clinic $140 for a mammogram; a private patient pays $350. Employees are forbidden from telling patients about the two-tiered system, but one doctor says it's all good. “The quality of care is identical,” he says. “It's the patient experience that's different.” Poppycock, says a bioethicist. “We're 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.”

A radiologist examines scans. At some clinics, personal care comes to those who ditch their insurance for a cash payment.
A radiologist examines scans. At some clinics, personal care comes to those who ditch their insurance for a cash payment.   (AP Photo)
A radiologist examines a breast scan.
A radiologist examines a breast scan.   (AP Photo)
« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow
To report an error on this story, notify our editors.
A snapshot of the day's best news stories.
 
COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 21 comments
dawnarun
Nov 24, 2009 12:34 PM CST
I always pay out of pocket because I can't afford health insurance. Paying in cash as opposed to credit, in most places, gets you a discount too. The cost of health insurance tends to be much more than my annual medical bills - and the whole just in case something big happens mentality is one I simply can't afford. That being said... I like the idea that for once, being poor will get me something more.
Ucantusethatname
Nov 24, 2009 12:02 PM CST
Capitalism at its best.
bewilderbeast
Nov 24, 2009 9:14 AM CST
The important thing here is to pressurise your insurers to fight for their clients. They should be seeing to it that their clients get a good deal. It needn't be the "robe and coffee" smoke and mirrors, just good care. If insurers are money-grabbers they don't give a damn. They'll just arrange a "deal" with providers. The trick with Public Option healthcare (when you finally get it) is to stay involved, get good people to run it, insist on decent treatment (but not flowery rubbish) and work actively against lobbyists, crooked pols, fraudulent deals. OWN IT when it comes, don't rubbish it. Start a movement like your civil rights movement that stays close to healthcare - and support it.

 
health care • health insurance • doctor • mammogram • radiology • clinic • boutique • concierge medicine

More Newser Stories

Health Reform Insured 2.5M Young People

Meet Your New Doctor: Walmart

Walmart Slashes Health Care Benefits

GOP to Obama: What Took So Long to Kill Insurance Plan?

US Health Care Tab to Hit $4.6T in 2020
NEWS FROM OUR PARTNERS
Other Sites We Like:   24/7 Wall St.   |   Betty Confidential   |   BuzzFeed   |   Cracked   |   Fark   |   Timelines   |   The Frisky   |   Geek Sugar   |   NewsOne