These Doctors Make House Calls-- for $99/visit
The last time I remember actually seeing a doctor make a house call was when Old Mr. Brame across the street was dying, in 1959. In deference to his condition, the street in front of his house had been strewn with heavy straw, to dampen down the car noises, and road sawhorses put up at the end of the street to prevent traffic from driving in front of his house.
Mr. Brame's last illness lasted about a week, and every day, Dr. Harrison would quietly park his black Cadillac down the street, and walk to the house, carrying his black bag. After a while, he would leave, his step hurried, as he walked from the house to his car. Grandma and I watched through the front window. Grandma took food over to the Brame family, every day, so Mrs. Brame wouldn't have to cook, and all the neighbors silently walked to the house, carrying covered dishes.
Today, this seems to be a rather quaint, Victorian custom-- to actually stop the world while someone made ready to leave it.
At least part of this old custom is soon to be revived. A group of doctors in Los Angeles has a new startup business. HEAL is a group of doctors who will actually make a house call to a home for a flat fee of $99/visit.
An actual doctor shows up at your door, and can order medicines, diagnostic tests, whatever is needed to get you on your way to better health!
All you need to do is download an app, input your phone number and credit card information, and a doctor is guaranteed to come to your door within an hour. Although the group doesn't accept insurance, the group states that with insurance, , one must make a co-pay, take time off from work to drive to a doctor's office, sit in a waiting room, you actually could be paying much more.
HEAL is not the first start up to offer this service. A group called PAGER offers house calls in New York City, and another group, Doctor on Demand, offers video visits between patients and doctors.
Do you think this is an idea whose time has come?
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In about 1959 a doctor made a house call to my grand parents house to give my uncle a pre-physical before he joined the army. It was no big deal.
Now they have congeries doctors who ONLY make house calls, if you can afford them. I doubt it's covered by my Medicare.
You took the words right out of my mouth Mickey.
I remember my doctor coming to my house when I had the chicken pox when I was 16 to decide if I needed to go to the hospital or not. No extra fee. That was when people went into medicine because they loved what they did, and really cared about their patients.
I left out the rest of the story: When poor Old Mr. Brame died, his devoted spinster daughters draped the front gate and front door in black crepe, and all the neighbors took flowers to their home. Mr. Brame went to a funeral home, and there were flowers there, as well as more food, etc. I stayed home with Grandpa during the funeral-- I don't know that Mr. Brame was especially important, but he was a lovely older gentleman, and I was fortunate to have known him.
His daughters were delightful! Miss Brame, the elder sister, worked as an actuary at an insurance company, and Sister, (the younger sister), taught at Breccia, the local college. They gave delightful entertainments for some of the brightest minds in the small city that was my hometown-- poetry readings, small soirees for local authors and musicians, teas on the lawn, Chocolate Parties-- where we listened to special records, (i.e. The Singing Nun, the latest London Symphony Orchestra recordings), and I was always invited. For some reason, they had deemed me suitable for polite company, and smiled benevolently as I munched cucumber benedictine sandwiches and sipped hot tea, dressed in my absolute best.
Dear Old Mr. Brame was my special friend, and I was occasionally escorted across the street to sit with him, when he felt well. He held my hand and told me of the wonders he had seen-- he and his wife had traveled extensively. I loved the Brames, who always watched my childhood games with indulgence and allowed me to rollerskate on their stretch of sidewalk-- it was the smoothest of the neighborhood.
Of late, this all seems like another era-- so long ago that remembering it is like falling into a well-- a glimpse of another age!
Personally, I would love to have a doctor that made house calls, if only when I'm too sick to drive myself there!
Good gosh! They don't have ANY doctors that make house calls here in Louisville! I wish they did!
When I was 17, I had my tonsils out, and the doctor forgot to come to the hospital to remove the packing from my nose. My father found him on the golf course and dragged him back to the hospital, since he had discharged me, but I couldn't leave with the packing in my face.
Yep, doctors used to be doctors because they wanted to help people. Dr. Harrison was also Grandma's doctor, and he was a lovely man! He came to my Grandma's funeral, and was saddened by her death.
I remember my doctor coming to my house when I had the chicken pox when I was 16 to decide if I needed to go to the hospital or not.
The last house call I can remember was when myself and my three sisters all got the Measles at the same time. I don't know if he charged extra because we we're on state assistance at the time and they paid the bill. That must have been around 1961.
Damn Perrie! We're getting OLD!
Yeah, aren't we all!!!
Maybe we'll all get senile and think we're all 20 again? I hope!
Old friends are the best friends, and then, you get senile and you get to be new friends again! (I saw that on a meme, once... Or something very much like it!)
I'm lucky. I have good gap insurance and a good medical system here. There are urgent care centers for Oasis Healthcare all over the valley and they are free to members. I don't need a house call, just a short drive to see a doctor with no appointment if I'm really sick or hurt.
I'm lucky, too-- we get our insurance from my husband's work... Yeah, we pay for it, but it is decent insurance.
When I first signed on with my doctor, (so to speak), she was just down the street. Then, in 6 months, she had moved to the next big road up the expressway and n towards "town", about a 20 minute drive. THEN, about 5 years later, she moved to the 4th big road up the expressway from our house. Thanks to her more central office location on that 4th big road, it only takes about 20 minutes to get there, still. But there have been times when I've been so sick, (flu or something), that I doubted I could get there... I made it, of course-- but I've set out before, hoping I could make it, and not end up on the side of the road. A house call sure would have been nice!
Ours is United Health Care gap insurance and it some counties it costs to join, but not in Riverside or LA counties. No copay's for doctor or specialist visits (except psychiatric ones) or hospital stays. Free tests, etc. There is a copay for prescription drugs, but it's usually about $7 for generics. They even paid for an MRI for me for free. I keep thinking that something is going to come along and screw it up.
We have United Health Care, too, but it is certainly not that good!
I think so, too! It would be great for families to not have to pack up all the kids to make it to the doctor's office, when just one of them is ill. It would be fabulous for seniors, for whom a doctor's appointment is a major ordeal, to be able to have a house call!
I hope it works and that they can be profitable!