Everything I know about concierge doctors comes from watching a couple episodes of Royal Pains (my mom loved that show and the photos on this post are from their Instagram). Like a lot of medical dramas I assumed it was mostly fabricated, but concierge medical services do exist. They’re like subscription services after which clients pay extra for medical services. Many are now gearing up to give their uber wealthy patients the vaccine as soon as it arrives – for the general population. Of course all the supplies in the US of the two approved vaccines, from Pfizer and Moderna, are allocated to frontline medical workers and vulnerable patients. So even the very rich and privileged aren’t getting the vaccine now. That’s not stopping them from trying though. The LA Times spoke to concierge doctors who said that their clients are inquiring how much money it would take to skip to the front of the line.
“We get hundreds of calls every single day,” said Dr. Ehsan Ali, who runs Beverly Hills Concierge Doctor. His clients, who include Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber, pay between $2,000 and $10,000 a year for personalized care. “This is the first time where I have not been able to get something for my patients.”
With the first doses in short supply, California has laid out a strict order of vaccinations based on need and risk: Healthcare workers and nursing home residents, then essential workers and those with chronic health conditions, then, finally, everyone else.
But to those with power, money and influence, rules can always be bent. California’s stern messaging about serving the neediest first hasn’t stopped the rich from trying to leap ahead of teachers, farmworkers and firefighters.
Dr. Jeff Toll, who has admitting privileges at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, one of the first hospitals to stock the vaccine, recalled a patient asking: “If I donate $25,000 to Cedars, would that help me get in line?’” Toll said no.
Watchdogs have been warning that the COVID-19 vaccine’s initial scarcity could create a thriving black market, particularly if well-connected people in the healthcare industry skim off a few doses here and there for friends, family or the highest bidder.
But getting earlier access to the shot may not even require much backroom deal-making. Some wealthy patients may get the shots sooner than the average person because they’re members of exclusive healthcare groups that offer the kind of high-quality, primary care most Americans can’t afford.
Those patients are already on waiting lists with concierge doctors who charge as much as $25,000 a year for 24-hour access to top-notch care, which includes working to get their clients vaccinated as soon as it’s available.
Concierge practices are fielding frantic, repeated phone calls from well-heeled clients and their assistants. They’re busy assembling lengthy patient files with medical histories and potential COVID-19 risks.
And they’re snapping up expensive, ultra-low temperature freezers, which are in short supply, to store the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine, which must be kept at minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit.
Doctors in boutique practices say they’ll adhere to public health guidelines in determining who gets priority. But being on a waiting list at a practice that has special freezers and other high-quality resources means you’re already near the front of the line once the supply opens up…
“We’re governed by the Hippocratic oath, the responsibility to provide care for the people who need it most,” said Dr. Abe Malkin, the founder of Concierge MD LA, a house-call medical service that charges up to $750 per month. “But at the same time, there’s obviously going to be gray areas based on individual patients’ needs.”
The article goes on to state that the concierge facilities applied to be able to distribute vaccines, but that Moderna and Pfizer are controlling distribution and doctors aren’t on the list yet. Notice how the concierge doctors are like “of course we wouldn’t give our patients the vaccine before they’re allowed, hippocratic oath” on one hand and “we got a bunch of subzero fridges and are ready” on the other. Those things aren’t mutually exclusive, but their clients will absolutely get the vaccine the minute it’s available while the rest of us will be waiting weeks if not months more for it to hit CVS. This is how healthcare works in the US, it’s a tiered system that benefits those who can afford it. It’s immoral, it’s unfair, and while we’ve always known that poorer people die from lack of healthcare (and suffer from lack of dental care) here, it’s never been more obvious than it is now. We’re losing over 3,000 people a day to this virus and it’s disproportionately killing people of color.
I saw a viral tweet using this meme from The Brady Bunch with a caption like “celebrities trying to get the vaccine.”
May the odds be ever in your favor.
LOL! Eat. The. Rich.
This is so depressingly accurate.😩
This pandemic has really pushed me to hope there is an afterlife, where souls are judged on their behavior here on earth. People like Trump, Pence, and Rubio who mocked masks and pushed people to gather are first in line to get the vaccine. Rich people who are so selfish they want to get ahead of healthcare workers and essential workers?? I know they won’t see their due in this lifetime, I can only hope that karma gets them eventually.
Exactly. It’s infuriating and I will NEVER forgot or forgive these politicians as long as they live. I am sure the people who truly need them may go without, like in Stanford, where front line workers at a hospital were left off the first vaccine list as “somehow” priority was shifted to employees who didn’t interact with patients. I’m guessing the board and higher ups stole those vaccines because they are rich and greedy. Please eat the rich except for MacKenzie Scott.
Of course they’ll somehow get around it and get the vaccine, if not first, a close second. Remember testing early in the pandemic?
I just got tested for the first time last Wednesday and I still feel bad about it. I had fatigue, headaches and body aches so the CDC and Walgreens checker suggested I get tested. I didn’t qualify for the rapid test, nor did I feel like lying about having a fever in order to get the rapid test, so I just got the normal test and waited for my results.
Luckily I was negative for Covid but now I feel like I wasted a test.
Ruling it out when you have symptoms is not a wasted test at all.
I did the same back in August – had a fever and some other milder symptoms, and I had an upcoming outdoor event, plus I had seen my parents a few days before.
I would bet everything I own you will see athletes getting vaccines before “regular” folks, just as they got/are getting regular tests to be able to play, ‘cos “SPORTS!!!!!” God FORBID they cancelled Super Bowl (which WILL turn into Super Spreaders as people WILL get together for parties, you just know it!)
As a LOT of offices out here in So. Cal. are charging “admin. fees” for a lot of services (not nec. covered by ins.) our Dr. decided to offer Concierge tier about 5 yrs. ago, and we decided to sign my dad up (as he has high b/p with congestive heart failure). What was offered for it was this: phone calls will always be taken/or returned w/in an hour (barring any emergency in the office). Prescriptions will be called in promptly and w/out any “fee”. Same day appts. if needed… nothing “fancy” (ie: no house calls) but more “prompt” service and no problems with ins. (Medicare/Blue Cross). The fee wasn’t even outrageous: $4000/yr. although now, with the economy and loss of investment income and all, my dad pays only $500/yr.
TLDR: As far as our Dr., this sure as hell won’t get him to the front of any line (though at 93 with his underlying med. conditions he will be in the NEXT wave), but then again, my dad can’t donate a wing to a hospital, or pay a dr. 10s/100s of thousands of dollars to “jump” either. And you KNOW there is a segment of the pop. who will, and those who will take it.
Also, I loved Royal Pains 😊
I am just so confused by how you can say 4K/y is not outrageous.
I pay 75euro/year for my healthcare and an additional 350euro/year to have the services you described. With this everything is covered, all expenses, a private room and so on.
I find it so hard too understand how in such a rich country as the USA there is no nationwide health care!
We pay$28,000 a year but that’s because of me and my pre existing condition. Our deductible is $7000 each individual.
Regular medical care in THE US is like the NHS in UK but we pay out the a$$ for it. Concierge doctors are like the “private option” – they don’t take insurance. Because insurance is so insanely expensive in US – if you’re a healthy person, no kids, concierge doctors might actually be less expensive.
THIS IS HOW BROKEN FOR PROFIT MEDICINE IS IN AMERICA
Yes!!!! It’s not just the uber wealthy who are getting concierge medicine. It’s the upper middle class cause it can be cheaper than insurance and give you more services. No I don’t have it, but I did look into it at one point as a doctor I liked was going that way. The whole US health system is so f’d up!!!! We can sit here and b*&tch about the wealthy and privileged, and sure they deserve it, but we really need to change the whole system. In a free society there’s always going to be people who buck the system and buy their way in. We can try to stop that as much as possible, but it will occur some. The reality is the US national health system needs a serious overhaul and expansion of the things Obama was trying to do and Trump was trying to stop.
This is what worries me about a lot of these things. Some of the crazy, narcissistic, entitled uber wealthy people are just an easy target to complain and go after, then we stop at them. Yeah! We got Bill Cosby, Harvey Weinstein, Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman, but where is the reform on sexual harassment, assault and rape or the reform on college admission process so young people of low to moderate means don’t have to be an athlete to get into and pay for college. Not saying we shouldn’t go after the horribles, but it just seems we stop there and move on to the next issue. It makes me depressed and sad.
I belong to a concierge practice and I still need insurance. They don’t accept it, but they submit my claims. The advantage is the doctors can afford to take on fewer patients thanks to the fees. You can almost always be seen same day and you can spend as much time with the doctor as you need.
I’m not one bit shocked by this, but am still angered by it, and you know despite the restrictions, some of them will manage to get it.
If your healthcare provider doesn’t have a freezer & a plan for this vaccine when it is released to medical offices, you have a bigger problem than waiting for it to arrive to cvs.
Even with insurance, healthcare in this country is insanely expensive. I just got laid off from my campaign job (obviously the election is over) and I have the chance to continue my health care insurance from that job — for about $1200 a month. That’s just the base amount and doesn’t cover any copays. As an unemployed person I cannot possibly afford that. I am now on Medicare.
I live in the US and my share of basic health insurance that my employer has is still $500 per month. I feel lucky to have it of course but it’s a lot of money when there are hefty co-pay per visit and procedure.
Same here.
Wow–we’re so screwed over here in the US.
Self-employed & my (basic) insurance is 510/month.
Guess no point going back to corporate if the health coverage benefit is no better.
No shame being on Medicare, especially now when you’re out of work. You might wait longer at the doctor’s office, and might not get your first-choice doctor, but you’ll get seen. And pay next to nothing for your prescriptions. If you can, see doctors affiliated with teaching hospitals. Generally speaking, they seem to be the best.
I’m on Medicaid with my son, because my portion of insurance through work is more than half of my monthly take home pay, and it is crappy insurance with a high deductible so it wouldn’t really help us. At first I felt bad using the Medicaid insurance, like I was taking it away from someone else, but I do qualify for it and any time I get a raise I call the reps and let them know. They’ve been awesome and I’ve really been impressed with their call center.
I’m not sure about Medicare, but with my Medicaid I haven’t felt like my son or I are getting lesser treatment or seeing any differences in care with doctors. He sees a cardiologist yearly and I know I couldn’t afford those tests. Through the pandemic I’ve been able to see my therapist every 4 weeks via telehealth, as well as stay on top of my migraine meds and mental health meds. And I live in a RED state. Good luck and please take care of yourself, like others have said there is no shame!
Years ago I worked the X-ray portion of a big office with about 10 or 15 different doctors, once Obama came into office and the ACA was in the works almost all the doctors went concierge and blamed Obama. Most of them charged around $2500 every January and only took about 300 to 400 patients, that’s on top of copays and other expenses the patients have to cover, but every single patient blamed “that damn Obamacare”. I realized those doctors were making 1 million every year right off the bat and putting blame on a healthcare act that wasn’t in effect yet, people are so fkng gullible.
YES!
This doesn’t surprise me.We’ll probably be seeing some pics of a Kardashian Vaccination party soon.
+1
Probably, but I hope those idiots are last. Partying and traveling all the time? No. End of the line.
I told my husband that this would happen the other day. I remember the rich wasting tests back in the spring. I haven’t seen a doctor in decades, with the exception of an ortho when I hurt my knee. I see a nurse practitioner at a big practice and as long as my blood work comes back normal and I have no issues I don’t need a doctor. I think one way to drive down costs is to allow NP and PA to practice on their own. They can refer you to a doc if you have a problem. Why should the doc take a cut of whatever my insurance is paying the NP when I never see him? Same with dentist. Why can’t a hygienist open a tooth cleaning store front? As long as I don’t need a filling or root canal why pay the dentist to come in for literally one minute after my cleaning, look in my mouth and say “looks good”?
That always gets me. The hygienist does all the work, the dentist sees you for a minute, and you know that dentist gets the higher paycheck (yes, yes, I know they have more education, etc., etc., but still).
These docs bogarded the tests for their patients early in the pandemic when test availability was challenging in NYC, much less every where else. So no surprise that they are trying to move their patients to the head of the vaccine lines. Money talks. I want my daughter (a doctor) and her colleagues who routinely encounter symptomatic patients to be head of the line.
If it’s “only” about skipping the line for the vaccination I wouldn’t be too upset. What REALLY upsets me is when wealthy patients get to skip the line for donor organs… This has happened in Germany.
They’ve been reporting that vials of the vaccine that are supposed to have 4 doses in them can have 5 doses. Now I’m wondering if a shady doctor could conceivably skim those 5th doses to sell to someone who wants to cut in line for the vaccine. I assume that there’s some tracking involved in terms of how many doses are sent out and how they’re distributed, but can an unexpected extra dose be tracked? If people are willing to pay big money, it seems ripe for corruption. (I do assume that the vast majority of medical professionals would attempt anything, but every group has someone).
Sa. Sadly I bet there will be some “skimming” off the top.
The vaccine is only good for an hour after reconstitution. At my very large hospital as soon as the scheduled staff appointments are completed our vaccine RNs are calling up to the critical units (ICU, ER, OB, Isolation) and having any unscheduled staff that wants to come down immediately for vaccination so we use up the “extra” dose from the vial. We have a full staff of approx 30,000 so we also need to do phlebotomists, laboratory workers, security guards, housekeepers, food service, etc. People don’t think of them and they are face to face with everyone. On my way out last night I told the front door guard to talk to his supervisor to get in on this. The guy meets people as they walk off the street and gives them their mask.
btw people think “OB?”. pregnant women in labor or with other issues walk in directly from home to the unit and the OB RN is the front line for exposure and testing the patient. Virus doesn’t care who you are.
I was able to get the vaccine last night two days earlier than my appointment (I was relieved of my patient for 15 minutes so I could go) . She was my 16th pregnant Covid-19 patient this year. And our cases have doubled in the last two weeks. And we are OB, we are not an infectious disease unit. Our set up and layout is severely inadequate for this situation. Last night 50% of our pregnant patients were Covid positive. After I got the vaccine I had an overwhelming urge to cry, but I didn’t/couldn’t because I had to get right back to taking care of an active labor patient.
We’ve had to suck it up and deal this whole year. My coworkers and I all have PTSD from having to suck it up, put on a professional face, get the job done and take care of others and not ourselves. At some point in the future I will cry but not now, I have to keep doing the job.
Thank you. I hope everyone in your hospital is vaccinated by mid January. My doctor daughter in law is out on maternity leave right now and I am relieved for her. What you have all gone through this year is so tough, but thank you a million times for your hard work!
Blacktoypoodle – I’m glad you got the vaccine now. I’m sorry for all of the pain you’ve had to see, and the pain you have been through personally. This agnostic is praying that the vaccine brings relief to patients and healthcare workers everywhere. Every face I look at now – I don’t know what they’ve been through recently, healthcare worker or not – could be the face of someone who’s been damaged in some way by this scourge. Please stay safe, keep your guard up, and try to hang on for the future when people will be able to hug and hold hands again.
My family members in healthcare got the vaccine this weekend. To sign up, you had to go to a specific link and fill out info. Apparently the link leaked and the general public tried to sneak in to get the vaccine instead of healthcare workers. They had to show their badges 3x just to get the shot.
Hospitals here had a very good process for vaccinating high risk groups. I hope they distribute vaccines rather than doctors offices.
Is anyone surprised? We’re going to see a slew of celebrities and wealthy people announcing that they got vaccinated due to their incredibly serious and life-threatening yet previously unheard of asthma, or their crucial work on the next marvel movie deems them an essential worker so they get the jab.
Just so you know according to my brother’s pulmonologist at John’s Hopkins they do not believe Asthma is a factor in bad Covid outcomes or infections. Oddly, it appear the endocrine diseases are the culprits in this virus, diabetes, lupus, thyroid conditions, all diseases which are the “inflammation” type not the pulmonary type. Even then you have to have the condition not managed well, with the exception of diabetes, which even managed causes issues. So when you hear Asthma their full of sh*&. Also scary with Asthma, apparently some are having a bit of an adverse reaction to one of the vaccines, not enough to make asthmatics not get it, but generally enough to make them concerned.
Actually some of the literature I’ve read makes it seem like the jury is out on that one. Allergic asthma may pose a different risk than intrinsic asthma, as far as susceptibility or mortality from COVID. Maybe that’s also an issue of immune response?
It seems cheap to me that for 2,000 to 10,000 a year, these rich people get custom care. 2,000 a year would be a steal for your average American.
And I suspect most just use them to write prescriptions for drugs they “need”. Every barely famous person can get a Xanex or Adderall prescribed to them in one phone call.
The healthcare system is so broken.
I’ve been on the same thyroid medication for 10 years, begun in India…comes to about $3/YEAR! All my subsequent tests have shown it’s working well, so I’ve kept it going. And now, thanks to being stuck in the US since March, I’m running out in a month or so. My local NP prescribed another which is about $150/month AND will need new follow up blood tests and crossed fingers to make sure it suits me.
That’s with insurance!
To get my parents to courier me a bottle from India…which costs about a dollar, and contains 100 pills…I have to get a new scrip and doctor’s letter from India, in order to jump thru FDA and Customs hoops for a medicine that is not new, breaks no patent regulations, takes nothing away from recent research, etc. Just because of the insane stranglehold Big Pharma has in this country.
First, I have a thyroid issue too, and I can verify the costs are crazy. I was originally on synthroid a while ago and a 3 month supply of it was $20 without insurance. Then they put me on the generic which was okay for a while, but I started having issues a few years later. My doctor thought I might be allergic to something in the filler, and put me back on synthroid at this point it is $140 for a 3 month supply, only a few years later. Luckily I can pay for it, but it’s ridiculous this old drug is now this much more.
If you are in the US for a while I would see if you could try the generic synthroid, it’s cheap at Walmart even without insurance. Apparently, only a small portion of people have a problem with being allergic to the fillers. Still it sucks having to switch thyroid medicine cause it takes a while to get the right dose of the new one. I’m sorry you are going through this.
@SAMEASITEVERWAS
thanks for the info…so useful. My local scrip is for Tirosint…which looks expensive!
Also love that you understand how much we hate to rock the boat when our thyroid med suits us! In fact they specifically tell you to stick with the same brand for thyroid if it’s going well. I’m jumping through the FDA hoops (I live in the US but got diagnosed during a stint of several years in India). My parents are assembling the package in India with all the required documentation. I visit them frequently, so stocking up has never been an issue before this lockdown 🙁
At this rate, I think I’ll have to retire in India…assuming they haven’t turned into a fundamentalist crazy place too like it seems under the current govt…
One of the generic levothyroxine producers stopped making the drug, that’s why. The other pharmaceutical manufacturers saw the advantage and jacked the price up because we’re in an insane society that allows that.
I hate our horrible, for profit healthcare system so much in the US. The only time I had decent healthcare was when I was on Medicaid during my pregnancy. I have a low level ACA plan now and it doesn’t pay for much at all. I don’t understand who all these Americans are that supposedly love their private insurance, it’s a huge scam that will fight you every way porthole once you actually need
It’s because their premiums are cheap and they’ve never had to actually use it for anything significant so they won’t know how useless it is until it’s too late.
The rich and famous were able to get tested for COVID routinely even when there were test shortages, they will find a way to get vaccinated before the people who really need it. This is capitalism at its worst – you have money? you get the medicine. You don’t have money? Die.
I’m a healthcare worker in inpatient care and around covid daily in and out of patients rooms and the ER for consults (I’m not on a pulmonary crit care service but covid affects every healthcare worker no mater what field of medicine you’re in)….still waiting for my vaccine but hey those senators really need it, especially the ones who refused to promote masking and science and speak out against the detractors and take this seriously. So do all those rich people. I’ll just sit over here exhausted from pulling a 16 hour shift yesterday (because sick people just wouldn’t stop coming to the hospital dangit!) with my high student loan debt thinking about how I was sold a load of shit about us living in a meritocracy.
Here’s Texas to turn everyone’s brain inside out — based on everything I am hearing, nobody here who isn’t in healthcare wants it! I saw surveys that showed only 42% of Texans are planning to get it. Then I started seeing FaceBook posts and that number sounds high. Everyone seems to think it is a plot or “too soon” to be safe, and people who already have medical conditions seem to be the MOST definite about not wanting this “unproven” vaccine to endanger their already sketchy health.
So much for herd immunity. On the plus side, maybe I can get it relatively soon!
It’s official, we live in a dystopian ya novel. Disgusting, but not surprising in the least. Trying to see the bright side… maybe if celebrities and social media influencers start to get the vaccine, everyone will suddenly be on board with getting the shot?
Who do you think will be the first American celeb to post about getting it?
My husband works at a hospital and is getting his first of the two doses today. I was so relieved when he told me he was getting it. He has diabetes and we’ve basically been in quarantine since March 2020, but I still worry about him getting exposed at work. I’m not expecting to get vaccinated until the spring, but it will settle my mind a lot knowing that he’s been vaccinated.
Also, f*ck all these rich people who want to take doses away from the people who need it. This disaster has really showed how warped America is.
This is the pandemic of the poor.
We just finished watching all of Royal Pains. It was really cute but they did a good job showing how the rich are different. I do think all that claimed the virus a hoax should be at the end of the line. All who refused to wear masks, end of the line. This year has shown me how much I overestimated the average intelligence of Americans. I thought everyone had a modicum & I was proven wrong, hard. Stay safe & well & Happy Holidays to all
You too😊 And you’re right, we’re a nation of dumbasses.