Let's Talk Health Insurance with Dr. Jacqueline Harris

Let’s Talk Health Insurance with Dr. Jacqueline Harris. With healthcare costs continuing to rise at an alarming rate, Dr. Jaqueline Harris of Cross Care Direct gives us hope. She discusses the direct care model of health coverage with us during an interview at her office. Also known as direct primary care, this option for health insurance allows patients to obtain quality health coverage without going through the red tape that is usually associated with “traditional” health insurance.

Don’t misunderstand this movement in healthcare as an alternative to health insurance. Dr. Harris explains how direct care is meant to supplement health insurance, not replace it. But rather than having an expensive blanket policy, she recommends using insurance companies for catastrophic coverage. Direct primary care aims to support the health insurance industry by putting healthier patients through the system, therefore reducing the insurance industry’s payout for major hospitalizations and procedures.

Rather than having an insurance company dictate to you, or your doctor, who you can see for coverage and how long your office visit will be, direct primary care doctors get paid directly by their patients. A few benefits include a more personal touch, reduced healthcare costs and the ability to really connect with your physician. Dr. Harris provides us an example of how some lab tests that she personally paid $150 for would have only cost one of her patients $50 on the direct primary care model!

Can you imagine your doctor making house calls? Well Dr. Harris has! Another benefit of the direct primary care model is that primary care physicians are able to connect with their patients enough to even make house calls. Dr. Harris has also met patients on the weekend when they contacted her directly. That’s right - no answering service, no assistant answering the line - as a member, your call gets routed directly to Dr. Harris!

If you are an employer or insurance broker, the direct primary care model is a viable alternative to traditional healthcare coverage options. Not only will employers save money by only providing major medical coverage for their staff, but their employers are happier, healthier and save money as well. Many employers decided to “try it out” for a year and loved the results that they received to their bottom line in terms of cost savings and increased employee productivity.

So how do you become a direct primary care physician? You must first follow the foundational route of a 4-year undergrad degree, 4 years of medical school and then become a resident physician. From there you can follow a variety of paths, one of which would be to become a direct primary care physician. Dr. Harris herself didn’t decide to go into direct care until after working for someone else for about 3 years. Many of her colleagues were employees for much longer before transitioning to direct care.

So what does Dr. Harris recommend that you do next? First of all, do your research. She directs you to Google direct (primary) care to learn about how the model works. You can also contact Cross Care Direct to learn more about how the model works.

Cross Care Direct 56 Carriage Oaks Dr. Tyrone, GA 30290 678-827-9799 http://crosscaredirect.com

Resources given by Dr. Harris: dpc.org https://directprimarycarejournal.com/

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