A NYC Mom Says Her Children's Pediatrician Is Charging Her An Annual Fee Of $350 'Just To Go There'
Paying over $1,000 dollars for a check-up? This mom is not having it.
cityloveletter / TikTok After getting charged a whopping annual fee of $350 per patient from her children’s pediatrician, a NYC mother decided it’s high time for her to look elsewhere for pediatric care.
In a TikTok video, the mother, named Chelsea, explains that the cost for all three of her children to be patients sums up to “over a thousand dollars [without] counting insurance or fees or co-pays” and believes something like this could “only happen in New York.”
The mother quips that the annual cost is 'like a broker fee for the pediatrician.'
Living in New York is anything but inexpensive, and raising children in the city only heightens the financial burden, so it’s understandable why this mother of three isn’t too happy about the recent change in her children’s medical bill.
While most users empathized with the mother’s concerns, some also stated that the practice “isn’t new, but becoming more prevalent” in the United States.
One user voiced, “That’s a thing everywhere. Concierge practices. My GP charges 1k. Needless to say, I have a new DR.”
Many doctors are transitioning their services to concierge medicine, a medical practice that offers a highly personalized form of healthcare that grants patients full access to their physicians along with other comprehensive benefits.
However, like many things in life, this quality of care doesn’t come without a price tag.
Some comments assessed that the costly medical practice is ‘worth every cent’.
One parent replied, “Worth it! My kids are grown now but I did it in a suburb outside of Detroit. I never waited even last minute, AND they did house calls. PRICELESS!!!”
“Pretty sure all the best doctors will eventually go concierge and I'm fine with it,” another user wrote.
Photo: Macniak / Canva
Although there are plenty of benefits included in concierge medicine, there is something to be said about the exclusionary nature of the practice.
As it stands, the provider-to-patient ratio disproportion in the U.S. has made it difficult for people to tend to their medical needs.
The rise of concierge medicine amplifies this issue when doctors privatize their quality services only to those who can afford them. This consequently begs the question of whether first-rate healthcare is an intrinsic right or an earned privilege.
On the other hand, one user noted, “Pediatricians are incredibly underpaid by insurance companies... What do you suggest the docs do?”
In other words, annual fees and other out-of-pocket costs allow doctors to provide a patient-focused experience without having to deal with the barriers built by insurance companies, so are they really to blame?
The answer to that varies, but one thing is certain: we need to build a better healthcare system.
Xiomara Demarchi is a writer and frequent contributor based in New York covering human interest topics for YourTango’s news and entertainment team.