A patient of mine recently needed to start checking his blood sugars. If you search online, you find too many options and with wildly varied prices. There are blood sugar meters with bells and whistles, things are wildly overpriced, and how is a patient supposed to know what they’re getting? What will their insurance cover, if anything? $100 for all the supplies is probably standard but is that even a good deal? In a physician job through the healthcare system, I’d write a script and wish the patient luck. Can’t afford it? Go talk to a social worker.
This is where the traditional healthcare system fails patients.
I am lucky to be able to procure these supplies for my patients and pass the savings along to them. This patient agreed to go sans insurance and we got him everything he needs to check his sugars for a whopping $31. The usual blood sugar meter that costs $30 online costs me 2 cents (literally).
Health care doesn’t stop when we say goodbye to our patients after a visit. Doctors need to get out of the old mindset of “goodbye and good luck navigating this mess!”