----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Givel" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Saturday, September 01, 2001 12:31 PM
Subject: [toeslist] Call It Wealth Care, The Doctors Who Cater to Super-Rich
> Published on Friday, August 31, 2001 in the Minneapolis Star
> Tribune
> Call It Wealth Care, The Doctors Who Cater to Super-Rich
> by Mark DePaolis
>
> It always gives me a warm, tingly feeling when I hear about
> doctors stepping in to help people in need.
>
> With most people worried about the poor and uninsured portion of
> the population, it would be easy to overlook another needy group:
> the rich. Most of these people have plenty of insurance and good
> access to health care, but not good enough.
>
> These are people who can afford the best of everything. Yet when
> they get sick they have to sit in doctor's offices and waiting
> rooms as if they weren't any better than anyone else, even though
> they could easily buy the entire building if they wanted to.
>
> Luckily, several groups of doctors have sprung into action and
> started a new system of health care to address this growing need.
>
> It's the Wealth Care system, and it works like this: Patients
> sign up for the practice and pay a yearly fee, as much as
> $20,000. In return, they then have a doctor at their beck and
> call. They can pick up the phone, any hour of the day or night,
> and get a doctor to help them with their problems. Most of the
> time, they don't even have to leave home -- the doctor comes to
> them.
>
> They can access this service as often as they want during the
> year. As you can imagine, it is a tremendous relief for
> millionaires to know that a physician will rush over with a
> medical bag whenever they get a sniffle. With doctors standing by
> in case of a bad hangnail, they won't worry so much about missing
> their twice-weekly manicure when their seaweed-wrap deep tissue
> massage runs long.
>
> And although these clinics provide mostly primary care, if a
> patient needs to see a specialist the doctor will make the call
> and arrange the visit. One doctor even accompanies the patient to
> see the specialist. Who knows? For the right money, he might even
> put on the gown and step in for the patient during parts of the
> exam.
>
> There are a lot of people willing to pay for this kind of special
> service. "Wealth Care" clinics have sprung up in Seattle and
> Florida, where some politicians are trying to outlaw the
> practice. New offices are planned for Denver, Portland and
> Chicago, and eventually wherever millionaires get sick.
>
> The doctors say they are much happier. Many of them got tired of
> the aggravation that comes with modern medical practice. Over the
> last 10 years they have been seeing more patients and making less
> money. Now, instead of caring for a population of 3,000 or 4,000
> patients who need their help, they only need to see a handful of
> millionaires. They might only see one or two people a day,
> letting them spend more time -- maybe too much time -- with their
> patients.
>
> They also make a lot more money, sometimes so much that they
> could even afford to become their own patients.
>
> Some European countries have a two-tiered system of health care,
> with private insurance for the people with enough money, and
> socialized medicine to take care of everyone else. This is fine
> as far as it goes -- at least poor, sick people have somewhere to
> turn -- but this system does nothing to address the terrible
> burden of inconvenience that faces our wealthiest people every
> day.
>
> Here in this country, where 40 million people have no health care
> at all, it's good to know there are doctors working hard to make
> sure the people at the top get plenty of special attention, even
> if it means turning caring, competent physicians into fawning
> lapdogs for rich people.
>
> Imagine how proud I feel.
>
> Mark DePaolis is a writer and physician who practices in Brooklyn
> Center, Minnesota.
>
> � Copyright 2001 Star Tribune
>
> ###
>
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