Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any other hidden gem internists? Or concierge guaranteed to cost less than 3K per year? Getting desperate! In NW DC

I'd be surprised if there are any hidden gem insurance panel internists in this market. Maybe family medicine.

Since the pandemic, Dr Ida Bergstrom has been accepting new patients and she is amazing. Highly recommend. Fee for service, but not concierge. Downtown location near Farragut Square. I got 90 min for my new patient annual!

Looking for one too. I used to see Dr Arling at Adult Capitol Medical. He was decent but went concierge, and I don’t think he is worth the extra money. His replacement doc already left as well.

Anonymous wrote:US healthcare is gutter trash.

Concierge is a S stain on the country.

The entire country is doomed.

Where's the lie though?

OneMedical doesn't suck. Yes, it's Bezos'd, but so is most of everything else you probably use. I can get a same-day visit, a video call in minutes, easy Rx refills, and it doesn't take long to be seen in-person, when necessary (a few days, maybe). A lot of their DC-area offices are metro-friendly, and also have decent parking. I have complicated health issues, and wish I'd joined OneMedical sooner. With OneMedical, I hang up first, and have never felt like a doctor was trying to rush me out the door/off the call for another patient. When I needed travel meds, I sent an email and had prescriptions ready the next day; no copay or call required. No more 8-minute clinical visits, and my records are all in one spot where I can see them. And no, there's not gonna be a referral link in this comment; I don't get paid to post this.

Is it perfect? No. But it's floating while a lot of other practices are sinking ships on fire in a sea of gasoline. The PCP model died during covid, to the detriment of US wellness overall. Good luck out there!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:US healthcare is gutter trash.

Concierge is a S stain on the country.

The entire country is doomed.

If you think you get easy access to PCPs who lavish generous time with you in any of the major countries with national healthcare, you're seriously mistaken. Even in the best national healthcare system, it's going to be more like Kaiser (at best) and plenty still have private healthcare to get quicker access and more personalized care.

Exactly this. My family in England says healthcare is terrible there. Years long waits for surgeries too.

That’s what decades of underfunding the NHS accomplished. The rest of Europe isn’t facing the same situation

What makes you say this? You'd be surprised by the extent of private healthcare across Europe. And healthcare is definitely rationed, with doctors and health authorities much more likely to say no to quality and extent of health treatments they decide isn't worth it while US healthcare systems are much more generous.

The one thing US healthcare is not is underfunded but the irony is that trying to nationalize it would most likely lead to an underfunded situation with the upper 50% of Americans still seeking private healthcare to cover the gaps.

I like my doctor at INOVA Primary Care - it's become really hard to make an appointment with her, so I'm not sharing her name, but wanted to mention that it is possible to find a good doctor that's not concierge but I have found one.

I like INOVA because all my doctors are connected to one another.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:US healthcare is gutter trash.

Concierge is a S stain on the country.

The entire country is doomed.

If you think you get easy access to PCPs who lavish generous time with you in any of the major countries with national healthcare, you're seriously mistaken. Even in the best national healthcare system, it's going to be more like Kaiser (at best) and plenty still have private healthcare to get quicker access and more personalized care.

Exactly this. My family in England says healthcare is terrible there. Years long waits for surgeries too.

That’s what decades of underfunding the NHS accomplished. The rest of Europe isn’t facing the same situation

Yes, this is the common thing: underfund publicly funded healthcare to the point it starts to break apart, and then claim it's because it isn't private. No, it works well and people are happy with it when it is funded appropriately. And that is cheaper than private, and with better outcomes, when it isn't being bled back into starvation.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:US healthcare is gutter trash.

Concierge is a S stain on the country.

The entire country is doomed.

If you think you get easy access to PCPs who lavish generous time with you in any of the major countries with national healthcare, you're seriously mistaken. Even in the best national healthcare system, it's going to be more like Kaiser (at best) and plenty still have private healthcare to get quicker access and more personalized care.

Exactly this. My family in England says healthcare is terrible there. Years long waits for surgeries too.

That’s what decades of underfunding the NHS accomplished. The rest of Europe isn’t facing the same situation

Anonymous wrote:PPs, what makes One Medical worth it to you? Think it would be good for seniors?

If your senior family member is generally in good health it might be worth trying out. They now have a discount if you have Prime membership.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:US healthcare is gutter trash.

Concierge is a S stain on the country.

The entire country is doomed.

If you think you get easy access to PCPs who lavish generous time with you in any of the major countries with national healthcare, you're seriously mistaken. Even in the best national healthcare system, it's going to be more like Kaiser (at best) and plenty still have private healthcare to get quicker access and more personalized care.

Exactly this. My family in England says healthcare is terrible there. Years long waits for surgeries too.

Anonymous wrote:Please more recs. Looking for someone for my 80-year-old Dad who is good health and just needs a great and reliable internist with admitting privileges. It’s impossible. Georgetown Medstar offered me two residents. We met one and they were clueless

When my mom was 80 I had her switch to a doctor who was raised and went to medical school in a foreign country. The doctor is much more realistic on what care is worth doing vs. what procedures you could do but doesn’t buy you much in terms of quality of life. You really don’t want the doctor who is doing the most aggressive treatments on people on their 80’s. The doctor instead spends more time talking and examining then just ordering test after test.

Anonymous wrote:PPs, what makes One Medical worth it to you? Think it would be good for seniors?

For me: they have clinics all over the district, the doctors I’ve seen have been solid, and I can almost always get a same day sick visit. I just tried out the chevy chase office and really liked the doctor I saw. Not really sure how they would do with seniors. I certainly saw more seniors at the chevy chase office than dupont, which I formerly used. But that might just be a function of geography.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is Darcy Hansen still practicing? She was great.

+1

I went to Darcy Hansen pre concierge and she was great. Also went to Robert Blee pre concierge and he was great too (heard he retired but the guy who took over is good too).

Now I go to One Medical, but you have to find someone you like (I’ve had two docs I like, and then a bunch that have been ok but at least you can get in quickly or video chat to see someone if you have to)

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I am opposed to the idea of concierge care but I am curious to look into it after the experience I had! If anyone has recommendations for those practices.

I'm the PP at 18:31. Look at Eileen West in NOVA. She is one of the Washingtonian's Top Docs. Annual cost to join her practice is just under 3k. If you are interested contact them now -- she will likely have a waitlist soon (like most of the good concierge docs in this area). You will have a call with her office manager who will explain the practice to you, costs, what you get, etc. Then a meet and greet with the doctor to see if it is a fit.

It’s quite a bit above $3000 starting in January.

No, it isn't -- it is $3250.

I think that’s quite a bit and I was responding to the person who said it was less than 3,000.

Nope ... $250 is not "quite a bit above $3000." Not for concierge fees. But if you think it is, you don't really have a place in the conversation when it comes to concierge medicine.

Everyone who needs primary care has a place in this conversation, because concierge care has an impact on everyone who needs primary care.

Anonymous wrote:US healthcare is gutter trash.

Concierge is a S stain on the country.

The entire country is doomed.

If you think you get easy access to PCPs who lavish generous time with you in any of the major countries with national healthcare, you're seriously mistaken. Even in the best national healthcare system, it's going to be more like Kaiser (at best) and plenty still have private healthcare to get quicker access and more personalized care.

US healthcare is gutter trash.

Concierge is a S stain on the country.

The entire country is doomed.