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This is from my blog, but I thought interesting. You may recognize the doctors name from recent posts.
The idea of health insurance is generally said to have begun in the 1940s, but consider this.
Early in his career (around 1815) in an attempt to build his practice in Philadelphia, Dr. Philip Physick offered the first healthcare insurance package in the country. He advertised that he could take care of an entire family for a year for $20.
Dr. Physick is known as the father of American surgery.
But some things never change🤔
Physick pursued wealth and had an income of $20,000 a year (equivalent to $343,600 in 2024) and invested nearly all his surplus wealth in real estate, which at the time of his death was valued at half a million dollars (equivalent to $13,895,588 in 2024.
Dr. Physick, called the father of American surgery, brought the scientific approach in surgery from Europe to the U.S. in 1800s. But with bloodletting as the main treatment for nearly every ailment, no anesthesia, and germ theory still a few decades away (hence no aseptic surgical practice), it’s hard to see why anyone would pine for those “good old days of health insurance.”
Modern health insurance bleeds us financially, but back then it drained both our wallets and our veins.
I fear you missed the point- maybe two.
The first point was the concept of prepayment not the type of care provided.
The second point is that “health insurance” bleeds us financially.
The cost and use of health care may bleed us, but it’s not the insurance which is merely a reflection of those costs.
Using your inflation figure, the good doctor cared for a family for $343.60 a year in 2024 dollars. Inexpensive. Oops, I see Dan provided a similar comment.
Given my insurances today cost more than that amount per week, I’ll take it – as long as anesthesia comes with it.
He used to perform cataract surgery. Can you imagine that sans anesthesia?
Yes. I’m seeing early adopters moving to the “we don’t take insurance” along with if you have to ask, you probably cannot afford my services. In fact, I’ve have 2 recommendations in the past year where a PCP felt a concierge would provide superior focus bc they are so time measured per patient by the all seeing care system.
Recently I was seeing a doctor that does not participate in Medicare. He was very highly recommended so I paid with my HSA. About $1500 for three visits. Was very satisfied with the care so worth every penny (and that’s a lot of them).
Only about 1.2% of all doctors have opted out of Medicare. That tells me their priorities are in the wrong place.
Plus they most often charge cash patients more than they accept from those with non-Medicare insurance.
A doctor can decline to take new Medicare patients which is reasonable given low Medicare payment if their total patient population is too skewed toward Medicare.
Great history
$20 in 1815 is equal to about $450 today. I’d gladly pay that for a year’s worth of healthcare, though it wouldn’t come close to covering all the bells and whistles of today’s care system.
His plan describes concierge medicine, with a physician offering care in exchange for the upfront retainer. There are a handful of physicians in this area who work on this model. I wonder if other readers are familiar with it?
I left mine when he went concierge.