The failures of our current system of health insurance have led to the growth of primary care practices providing concierge care. Recently my wife received notice that her primary care physician in Northampton was changing her practice to concierge care.

Concierge practices seek to expand the services they offer their patients by limiting the number of patients they care for. Concierge practices charge an annual membership fee and may or may not accept what a patient’s health insurance will pay as enough to cover a service provided. On the plus side, they promise same-day or next-day visits, extended time for encounters including physicals, and 24/7 access to the physician. They are designed for the more affluent; by law, MassHealth patients are not eligible for care of this kind.

Massachusetts already has a shortage of primary care physicians, with many more planning to leave primary care in the future. Since fewer patients are seen in each concierge practice, others will find access to primary care even more challenging. Concierge practices promise better care for the patients they see.

Our profit-driven health insurance system has created this problem. Current reimbursement rates for primary care are so low that to make an adequate income, physicians must see many patients each day. This results in short encounters with each one of them, which is dissatisfying to patients and physicians alike.

Profit-making by private health insurance companies has driven physicians and patients into systems of care that only the privileged can afford.

Jeane Anastas

Chesterfield