THE FUTURE WORKS (via John Resnick):

Local doctors dump health plans: Frustration spurs unusual decision. (CHRISTI NIES, November 11, 2003, Columbia Tribune)

Two Columbia doctors believe the health insurance industry is chronically sick, and now they’re taking the treatment into their own hands.

George and Hana Solomon have canceled their contracts with all health insurance companies, effective Dec. 1.

"After 13 years of trying to work within the current insurance-driven health care system, we have come to believe that it is so deeply flawed that incremental improvements cannot possibly save it," they told patients in an open letter that ran as a paid advertisement in the Sunday Tribune.

Although their services will no longer be covered by any insurance plans, they said their patients will benefit from the change. "Half the day I see patients, half the day I chase insurance companies," George Solomon said. "The system doesn’t work."

Now Solomon, a board-certified family physician, and his wife, Hana, a board-certified pediatrician, say they will have twice as much time to invest in their patients. [...]

For patients who can’t afford the pay-as-you-go health-care method, the Solomons propose an alternative: Cancel your standard health insurance, buy a catastrophic health-insurance policy and pay for day-to-day medical care out of pocket, at a discount.

Bill Kasmann, vice president of Kasmann Insurance Agency Inc., 116 N. Garth Ave., said catastrophic policies have deductibles anywhere from less than $1,000 to $10,000. The monthly premiums usually range from $100 to $200, depending on a wide number of variables.

With major medical events covered by a catastrophic policy, patients can then put money into a medical savings account or similar tax-advantaged account. Patients use these funds to pay for day-to-day health-care.

"This is America, a free-market society, and the only way to make it work is to put the power in the hands of the patient," George Solomon said. The Solomons are offering patients a 20 percent discount on services paid for at the time of the visit.

Columbia physician Laurel Walter also is canceling her insurance contracts. "I don’t think people realize how bad it is," Walter said. "I think this is the only approach that can make a difference."

Two of her three contracts will end Jan. 1. Walter, who runs a birth center and attends home births, is keeping coverage for maternity care.

After years of struggling with insurance claims - at one point she employed three full-time billing specialists - Walter said the final straw was an insurance contract that restricted "almost everything I do as a physician."

Now four employees at Walter’s clinic, Whole Health Family Practice and Birth Center at 1511 Chapel Hill Road, share the billing load on top of other duties.

"I didn’t go to medical school to be a pawn of the insurance industry at the expense of my patients," she said. "I would rather give away health care than be exploited by a health-insurance industry that’s also exploiting my patients."

Like the Solomons, Walter is encouraging patients to buy catastrophic coverage and cancel their regular policies.

Some of her patients have already done so. Several found catastrophic policies at Collin McCarty Insurance & Investment, 1000 W. Nifong Blvd.

"This is pretty radical," McCarty said. "You really can save in some cases a substantial amount of money."

It's a system just crying out for universal Health Savings Accounts.

Posted by Orrin Judd at March 9, 2004 6:05 PM