Peter Suderman on Supply Side Health Care Reform

Could the Netflix model work in
health care? A doctor’s office in Rochester, New York is aiming to
find out. Good MD, a primary care office set up this year, charges
patients a single, flat monthly fee for unlimited visits. Monthly
charges are based on age, and extra services—whether stitches or
strep throat tests—are provided for an additional fee, posted
online and in the office. The practice doesn’t accept private
insurance at all.

The result is a system that benefits not third-party payers, but
doctors and patients, Good MD Founder Dr. Thuc
Huynh, told local TV station WROC. “Insurance isn’t who
reimburses me or dictates what we do together in terms of our
treatment. So, it’s a direct financial relationship.”

This is what the future of health care reform could look like:
It’s provider-driven. It’s consumer-focused, with an emphasis on
both price and service. And it’s happening at the margins—at a
single practice, in a single town.

As Obamacare’s has settled into place, the Republican party’s
promises to repeal and replace the law have stagnated. The law is
still unpopular, but the coverage expansion has made the already
difficult prospect of repeal harder than ever, and despite years of
promises, no obvious replacement plan has emerged. Obamacare’s
critics in Congress are still opposed to the law, but increasingly
seem unsure about what to do instead.

Senior Editor Peter Suderman writes that provider-driven
experiments like what’s happening at Good MD could help point to a
different way of thinking about the problem.

View this article.