Ask the Pediatrician: November/December 2019

Paying cash for your doctor can save you time, money, sanity, and your health!

More and more physicians are opting out of insurance-based models to be able to provide better care for their patients. These doctors call themselves cash-pay, direct primary care, or concierge doctors, and they all have convenient, on-time, longer, and more-comprehensive office visits that include important preventive healthcare. Patients can often access their doctor 24/7 by email and text as well as on Facetime or Skype as needed. Some concierge doctors, like us, also do home visits and are in constant communication with top specialists.

The concierge concept may seem radical but this is how physicians, like my grandfather, treated patients years ago. In addition, many labs, hospitals, and imaging centers are getting onboard—offering reasonable, up-front, cash-pay prices. So with all the benefits, does a family even need insurance? We do recommend a high-deductible or catastrophic plan to help cover accidents, surgeries, hospitalizations, and serious illnesses and diseases. If you price it out, you often save money on healthcare and save time not waiting in busy doctors’ offices. Your kids won’t miss school and you won’t miss work. You’ll keep your sanity by being able to reach your doctor when needed. In addition, your physician can take better care of your family with the extra time for personalized, preventive healthcare, focusing on nutrition, sleep, healthy lifestyle, and school success.

At Calabasas Pediatrics Wellness Center, our team of experts takes a limited number of patients from birth through college. This lets us focus on each family so we’re there when you need us—today and into the future. Give us a call to improve you and your children’s health and wellness today.