Continuing from a week ago, we have a byproduct of the Obama Care
fiasco. In this case it is small clinics and doctors’ offices staffed not
be doctors, but by Nurse Practitioners.
What is it?: These clinics are set up by
companies looking to offer cheap healthcare to their employees and to the
public at large. So CVS, Walgreens and others will set up these small
miniature doctors’ offices to see patients. However, they are not staffed
by doctors, but by Nurse Practitioners. I know what you are thinking,
"Who wants to see a nurse" when you can see a doctor. Well, the
position of Nurse Practitioner was created by the medical industry as an answer
to the costly training to be a full-fledged doctor and that many doctors were
training to be specialists (where the money is) rather than a general
practitioner. As such, these Nurse Practitioners has the same knowledge
as a doctor when it comes to medicine, but with less years of schooling.
Advantages of the smaller clinic: The main advantage is that it is
cheaper. Because you generally will not be seeing an actual doctor, the
cost is roughly half of what it would be without insurance (estimated to around
$60 to a normal $120. Also, the Nurse Practitioner is the same as a
regular doctor when it comes to general medicine, so there is no loss in
quality of care (this is because like regular doctors, the nurse practitioner
gains experience in the same way, but with a condensed amount of schooling).
Also, these small clinics may be set up in more convenient locations like
in a mall, a store like CVS and Walgreens or even in a supermarket. Cost
and convenience all rolled into one.
Conclusion: With Obama Care making everything
cost more, everyone looked to do less with what they had to save money, but at
the same time stay competitive. So they created these cheap clinics to
make it cheaper for their customers and so that employees can even see a doctor
for free without employers providing insurance for the lower end of the
healthcare spectrum (aka, they will only need to cover catastrophic care
instead). This also gives Nurse Practitioners a chance to show their
metal as they have also begun to replace doctor in offices around the country
already (not to mention giving an alternate cheaper route to being a doctor
minus the title). So while Obama Care made costs rise, everyone has been
busy innovating to make it cheaper everywhere else.
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