iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — What if your health coverage was more like a gym membership?
Shellee Enfinger and her husband support their family of five by paying $250 per month for health coverage. She said with direct primary care or “membership medicine” she can text her doctors, who are available 24-7.
Enfinger said she was paying as much as her mortgage payment for health insurance.
Now by paying a monthly fee for direct primary care, she avoids spending money on high premiums and deductibles.
“We pay a membership, just like a gym membership or anything you pay monthly,” Enfinger said.
But health experts warn it doesn’t provide the same coverage as health insurance, unless you pay extra for catastrophic insurance.
“I think it’s not good for people who don’t have a lot of discretionary income, who are fooled into thinking it’s insurance– when it isn’t– who do not understand that they may be just a block away from a catastrophic health event,” Prof. Carolyn Engelhard, of University of Virginia’s School of Medicine, told ABC News.
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