Category: Savings

Increasing Value and Reducing Waste Means a Lower Cost for Patients

4/24/2016

When describing how he felt compelled to provide high value/affordable care to patients, Dr. Josh Umbehr sums it up this way, 'I was young and dumb.'

He actually isn't dumb at all but was making a point that he had no interest in getting bogged down with the minutia of heavy paperwork, wasting time dealing with insurance companies that dictate the kind of care a patient receives and how they will pay for such care.

Dr. Umbehr, a family medicine physician, saw right from the start that there is a better way to provide meaningful care that his patients would appreciate. This is how he and his business partner, Doug Nunamaker, MD started Atlas.MD.

Access to Your Doctor...Anytime

Dr. Umbehr believes the best way to be there for his patients is to have a close, direct relationship with them. Atlas.MD provides a membership fee plan that gives patients 24/7 access to go over their health concerns.

As Dr. Umbehr likes to describe, it's like comparing Netflix to Blockbuster. Whereas a customer had to travel to a Blockbuster to pay about $4 to $7 dollars for a couple of rentals at a time, Netflix forced a paradigm shift by offering 1,000's if not 10,000's of movies and shows instantly for under $8 a month.

As far as Atlas.MD patients are concerned, they can:

Schedule unlimited office or home visits. (No Copay)
Communicate with their doctor via text, phone, email, Facebook, Twitter etc.
Receive prescribed medication at wholesale costs. Atlas.md owns their own pharmacy which allows them to pass dramatic savings to their patients.

Receive diagnostic and procedural benefits at no extra costs. Including EKG, Holter Monitor, DEXA Scan, Body Fat Analysis, Spirometry, Breathing Treatments, Cryotherapy, Lesion Removal, Laceration Repair, just to name a few.

The above services and benefits are included with the patients monthly membership fee.

The first step in a patient taking control of their healthcare is deciding if the value that Atlas.MD provides is worth the monthly fee that they would agree to pay.

This is an example of how things should be in a free market healthcare system:

The patient decides for themselves without interference from a third party.

It is Atlas.MD's responsibility to fulfill the promises stated in their contract agreement with their patients.

Just like a consumer will stop going to a store that doesn't provide a good enough service, a patient is free to stop their membership at anytime if they believe their issues have not been addressed or if they have found better value from a healthcare facility elsewhere.

The patient has control of how they seek the care they need.

Direct communication with their Doctor as opposed to waiting in an office where they have to wait in line.

Wholesale prescription costs that can save patients more money than their actual Atlas.MD monthly fee.

It appears Atlas.MD has provided great value to their patients. Membership count has gone from 0 to 1500 patients in about 3 years as of 2014. The growth in their practice, to a great degree can be attributed to more patients seeking ways to reduce their overall healthcare costs in the age of the Affordable Care Act.

Patients are attracted to knowing exactly what their money is paying for. Their membership brings more than just financial value.

Peace of mind and a sense of control brings added comfort as well. Reducing the stress involved in discussing their care as opposed to some Medicaid patients that become frustrated with the delays in getting their health issues resolved.

It is not Atlas.MD's goal to get rid of health insurance companies however their system can reduce their patients health insurance costs dramatically.

This is because their practice covers more of the day to day issues that their patients can likely handle on their own which leaves just the major, more vital, catastrophic events to be covered by insurance companies.

Regarding insurance premiums, Dr. Umbehr states as a matter of fact that Atlas.MD has been able to reduce insurance premiums for families and employers by up to 60% in the first year.

Atlas.MD is located in Kansas. Fortunately all around the country there is a growing trend of the Direct Primary Care model that they have brought to the mainstream and continue to perfect.

As this kind of concierge service grows. Patients that use this system of healthcare will have more time, energy and money for themselves to use as they see fit.

In other words, people make clear, direct choices with their money and time and they are able to quickly see the results of their decisions.

In Atlas.MD's case, they are busy bringing value that their members chose to have for themselves without any insurance company getting in the way.

Exactly as it should be in the free market model.

Ricky Moore
Independent Asset Management Agent

The Direct Primary Care Podcast:
Dr Landon Roussel interviews Dr Josh Umbehr

For more of Dr. Roussel's Direct Primary Care Podcasts, visit his link here.

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Health Insurance Companies Cause Patients to Pay More

4/8/2016

Definition of Insurance:

Compensation provided to offset the loss caused by a potential event or outcome.

Examples:

Car insurance will provide compensation to repair a car after an accident.

Life insurance can provide you with income if you become disabled or it can provide a lump sum cash amount to your family if you die. Giving them the opportunity to not have the extra burden of financial worries when you are gone.

One reason why health insurance is so expensive is because in addition to providing compensation to handle serious medical events in your life (which is what they should do), health insurance companies also involve themselves with things that you can probably handle on your own.

In fact, without your insurance company’s involvement your costs might be less expensive.

Prescription Drugs

From CVS:

‘During 2011, 2010 and 2009, our pharmacy gross profit rate continued to benefit from an increase in generic drug revenues, which normally yield a higher gross profit rate than equivalent brand name drug revenues.‘

What CVS is telling us is that there is a lot of profit to be made with their growing generic drug revenues.

Is it because generic drugs are usually more expensive than brand name drugs?

No.

The reason is because most of these generic drugs are paid for using a combination of a customer’s co-pay and the health insurance company’s negotiated rate. Pharmacies like CVS will not complain about this arrangement because their expected growth rate of generic drug prescriptions in 2011 was $40.5 billion dollars.

When plenty of generic drug pills costing only .30 cents or less there is a huge markup even when the customer only has a monthly copay of just $5 or $10.

There are many cases where you can save money by paying a lower cost directly to your pharmacy and avoid the higher costs arranged by your health insurance’s negotiated payment arrangement.

In the video below Dr. David Belk covers examples of inflated prescription drug prices caused by insurance companies' intervention.

For information on how you can possibly save your money on prescription drugs,
visit http://truecostofhealthcare.net/

Conclusion

Based on the information provided in Dr. Belk's video above, customers would be better off learning the true cost of prescriptions without their insurance company's involvement and if they can pay a lower price for the same prescription then all the better for the customer, especially the elderly that are on a fixed income.

When insurance companies interfere and cause the price of prescriptions to rise they are no longer providing true insurance protection.

Raising the expenses that a customer has to pay is not insurance at all.

While politicians argue back and forth on our health care system. They should all remember or learn what the true definition of insurance actually is.

How Can Young People Save?

3/26/2016

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A good question is asked by Alan Amdahl, an economics teacher of an Albany, Minnesota high school regarding the historic low interest rates of savings accounts across the country. The question he asks is:

'How can we teach students that they will be rewarded for saving given that returns on investments are currently so low?'

The answer that is given by the former Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke, is a little incomplete in my opinion.

Mr. Bernanke attempts to make the point that interest rates have been low but '...they're low for a good reason... which is that our economy is still in a fragile recovery and low interest rates are intended to help the economy recover...' he goes on to say,

'...ultimately, the best way to improve the returns attainable by savers was to do what the Fed actually did: keep rates low...'

So around the year 2008, the decision makers at the Fed decided to lower interest rates to near zero which indirectly meant lower savings rates for bank customers across the country. This was done for the purpose of... in Bernanke's own words '...so that the economy could recover and more quickly reach the point of producing healthier investment returns.'

The logic behind this course of action is to inspire economic activity in the form of borrowing loans for (1) business and (2) spending needs

(1) Business -- With rates so low, it is easy for entrepreneurs and business owners to borrow money to start businesses and potentially create positive cashflow to expand businesses and create stable incomes for employees which can lead to higher consumer spending.

(2) Spending Needs -- As was covered in my last blog, the mainstream financial media believes consumer spending is needed to nurture a strong economy. By people taking out loans to purchase homes, cars etc. it is expected that this spent money will get mixed into economy and hopefully spur growth.

Has the economy recovered to the point where people can expect higher interest rates on their savings and investment accounts?

Depends on who you ask?

Bloomberg host, Tom Keene, asks how has 'interest rate illusion' determined business investments, sales and profits?

This video covers how the Federal Reserve may have to consider something else other than low interest rates to spur the economy. They bring up the suggestion of negative interest rates which basically means that instead of people earning interest a bank would begin charging you for depositing your money with them.

Even though negative rates is in the very early discussion stage right now it should be obvious that had low interest rates did their expected job of growing the economy then negative interest rates wouldn't be thought of in the first place.
(A future blog will go into why negative interest rates are being considered at all.)

Why Can't Individual Banks Offer Higher Interest Rates on Their Own?

Technically they can however this would be going against the grain of the very system that a bank is supported by. Thanks to fractional reserve lending banks aren't really in a position to offer higher interest rates to their depositors. They would first have to keep more cash in their reserves to comfortably satisfy higher rated accounts. Otherwise they would need access to the Federal Reserve's cash to meet the contracted demands of savers.

Since it is a typical practice of our central bank to purchase bonds (debt instruments) to create the cash available for banks to provide to their customers, the rates have to be manageable (lower) than a stronger healthier economy would be able to handle, in my view.

It may just be the first step to responsible banking if banks managed their lending and savings rates based on their ability to effectively attract money through discernment and stable investment choices as opposed to low cash reserve requirements and having the Federal Reserve available to bail them out with extra cash.

Considering the track record of the last 8 years, higher savings rates worth mentioning seem to be a long ways away.

To answer Alan Amdahl's question posted at the start of this article:

'How can we teach students that they will be rewarded for saving given that returns on investments are currently so low?'

Learn and understand the root causes of why interest rates are low.
Figure out the reasons why a certain investment can provide higher returns.(Preferably without Federal Reserve influence)
Find work or a passion that can create enough cash flow for you where you can avoid low interest rated products altogether and be astute enough to manage your higher rated investments carefully.

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Increasing Value and Reducing Waste Means a Lower Cost for Patients

Access to Your Doctor...Anytime

The Direct Primary Care Podcast:
Dr Landon Roussel interviews Dr Josh Umbehr

Health Insurance Companies Cause Patients to Pay More

Definition of Insurance:

Prescription Drugs

Conclusion

How Can Young People Save?

Has the economy recovered to the point where people can expect higher interest rates on their savings and investment accounts?

Why Can't Individual Banks Offer Higher Interest Rates on Their Own?

To answer Alan Amdahl's question posted at the start of this article:

Blogs

Archives

Categories

Increasing Value and Reducing Waste Means a Lower Cost for Patients

Access to Your Doctor...Anytime

The Direct Primary Care Podcast: Dr Landon Roussel interviews Dr Josh Umbehr

Health Insurance Companies Cause Patients to Pay More

Definition of Insurance:

Prescription Drugs

Conclusion

How Can Young People Save?

Has the economy recovered to the point where people can expect higher interest rates on their savings and investment accounts?

Why Can't Individual Banks Offer Higher Interest Rates on Their Own?

To answer Alan Amdahl's question posted at the start of this article:

Blogs

Archives

Categories

The Direct Primary Care Podcast:
Dr Landon Roussel interviews Dr Josh Umbehr