Two speakers debate healthcare reform, with one proposing Direct Primary Care clinics that charge monthly fees instead of insurance, plus a limited government safety net. They cite FDA removal of peptide therapies like BPC-157 as evidence of corporate and political pressure on doctors.
I don't think government, like, should own healthcare. It's not taking insurance, but it's also giving patients opportunities to pay for medications and tests for much less. And so direct care is one of those solutions.
Do you think the answer is more government intervention? Do you think the answer is— I mean, I know that's— look, I know that's a sticky subject, right? Like, I'm not trying to paint you in a corner here, right?
No, no, no, you're not. And I think that there's no easy answer here. I don't think government, like, should own healthcare. Like, I don't believe— I just don't believe in socialized medicine. I think socialized medicine has huge problems in it, right? I think that in ideal— in an ideal society, great. Like, you know, we could all live happily and equally and be rah-rah great. But that's not how the world works.
Right.
And I think that when you have government intervention, you have all of the added burdens that go in there that are not necessary. I mean, some of that is seen in the tons of paperwork that we now have to fill out and all the questions we need to ask patients that make zero sense, like to ask a patient something for, you know, 5 minutes out of a 7-minute appointment and have it be not relevant to the cough they went in, right? Sometimes it's not relevant. And I think doctors are smart enough to be able to decide what's important this second and what isn't important. So again, I don't think governmental intervention is the answer. I do think that like a mix of things is the right answer. I think that private practices that charge decent amounts, which are being seen now in DPC practices, direct care practices, they charge a monthly fee. Some are as low as $20, $30 a month. Some are $150 a month. But the point is it's a reasonable fee. It's not taking insurance, but it's also giving patients opportunities to pay for medications and tests for much less. And so direct care is one of those solutions. I do think that there still needs to be some option for folks that, for example, can't necessarily afford that. I think that there should maybe in that case be some governmental, like, program that physicians can either opt into or maybe some of them can, you know, you have to have like 5% of your practice be a part of. I don't know. I don't really believe in making people do things a certain way.
Right, right, yeah.
And that's my— I don't believe in the government dictating for me how I should be living. And so that's my problem too, that as a physician, of course, we all need to abide by HIPAA and be honest humans and treat our patients. But I don't know that there should be an entity that is Telling me what to do, because that's where we get into the hairy situation that we got into now.
Yeah. And it's a really bad situation. Like it's not getting any better and it's not going to get any better. I mean, the money that the insurance companies are making buys them an unbelievable amount of influence, right? So yes, take a look at what happened a couple of months ago. So the FDA decides to go through and just out of the blue, get rid of a bunch of peptides that— and again, I'm not a physician. But then my clients are like, you know, BPC-157, CJC, ipamorelin, all these really great things that are helping patients live better lives. Boom, it's out. You know, one day, done. It's over at the end of August. So it's clear to me that there is a tremendous amount of influence being peddled within Washington. That shouldn't surprise anybody, right?
No.
And then you also mentioned, okay, so the insurance companies, the bureaucracy, and what was the third one again?
The insurance companies, the system/private equity, and the paperwork/legalities. Yes.
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