Pediatrician "membership" fees

knottied2a666e3e38a2a87

I am searching high and low for a new pediatrician that accepts my very popular, state employee health insurance.  I am running into this -- in order to combat the effects of Obamacare (is that thing even rolling??) and keep patient rolls low, practices are asking for annual "membership fees" ON TOP of accepting insurance/copays.  So far, I have run into one that asks for $1000 a year, one that wants $3000, and one that wants $5000 a year!!  I don't mean to start a political discussion, but have any of you run into this?  WTH am I supposed to do?  The pedi we go to now isn't yet charging such a fee, but it's scrubby like the county health department and they want no part in individualized care and decisionmaking.

shelley1002

I was at the pedi on Friday and there was no mention of anything like that.

dlphndoc

I have never heard of anything like this.

germanpickle

w.t.f. 

I think I would write to the central board in your state to raise their awareness of this, that seems strange at best. 

I don't live in the US so I'm not familiar with all the details of what and how medical charges change, but the two women that I do know personally in US who are practicing doctors said there is no reason to assume their income will be reduced. 

hlb622

I've never heard of such ridiculousness (I live in MI). Woah.

huntjul

Never run across it.

kelle017

I've heard of a concierge type practice.

You pay a fee, and they keep their patient lists smaller and offer a lot more personal service.

They don't deal with insurance so you don't have co-pays etc...

Lesley0228

I've never heard of that. I do work at a county health department clinic though and I couldn't even be offended, we are scrubby.

Alexandrap

Where are you that they are charging this? I have never heard of this before and it would definitely not fly around here.

lefnc82

Never heard of such a thing. Sounds a little strange to me.

Welshgirl12

Nothing like that here in northern Virginia to my knowledge. That sounds rubbish.

jennlin

Nope have not heard if this in Seattle metro area.

BlessUrHeart29

Wow! Nope, never heard of that in Tennessee, although I'm not really in an area where they would find a large enough population of high rollers to sustain that type of nonsense.

babygiantquest

JarynA said:

Wow! Nope, never heard of that in Tennessee, although I'm not really in an area where they would find a large enough population of high rollers to sustain that type of nonsense.

This.

Jalee85

Never have heard if this. That is straight up crazy.

manders726

I've never heard of this either.  Is that even legal?  What would the "membership fee" even go towards?  Are you just paying the doctor's green fees or can you bank it against co-pays?

MissLauraPants

I've heard of therapists doing this but it isn't common

SnoopyLuv

I've only seen this for doctors that don't participate with insurance. They provide24/7 email or phone access and house calls though. It's becoming popular in and around DC but not that commonplace. Only certain specialty doctors do it.

Amjoy25

Where do you live? Never heard of such a thing. Are we being punked?

knottied2a666e3e38a2a87

dknight413 said:

So I've just googled and found this: https://www.choicepediatrics.net/faq.html I'm no expert, but this sounds pretty sketchy.

Yeah this.  It's like this.  I'm in Tampa.  And from what I understand, it would be on top of copays and they are trying to make it sound like you get all this extra stuff, like 24/7 doctor texting and these handy internet webinars.  And probably they are using politics as an additional reason to make more money.  Looks like I'll be doing serious phone calling/hoofing.

Welshgirl12

I've only seen this for doctors that don't participate with insurance. They provide24/7 email or phone access and house calls though. It's becoming popular in and around DC but not that commonplace. Only certain specialty doctors do it.

My peds offer 24/7 contact via email or phone, they also have a lactation warm line, their offices are open seven days a week, I think they do house calls AND.they give awesome stickers for the kids but no special super high membership fee or any fee in fact other than usual co pay.

@snoopyluv are you around the DC area too?

SnoopyLuv

Welshgirl12 said:

I've only seen this for doctors that don't participate with insurance. They provide24/7 email or phone access and house calls though. It's becoming popular in and around DC but not that commonplace. Only certain specialty doctors do it.

My peds offer 24/7 contact via email or phone, they also have a lactation warm line, their offices are open seven days a week, I think they do house calls AND.they give awesome stickers for the kids but no special super high membership fee or any fee in fact other than usual co pay. @snoopyluv are you around the DC area too?

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yep, I'm in Maryland.