Pay As You Go

World Magazine has an article about Dr. Robert Berry that is a breath of fresh air. This is because currently our air is polluted with political and economic mumbo jumbo about rising health care costs and greedy health insurance companies etc etc (almost makes me ill thinking about it). Dr. Berry apparently is a throw-back to the days of "pay as you go" visits to the doctor. He has a clinic in Greeneville, TN called PATMOS, which stands for "Pay At TiMe of Service." You know, you've seen this type of thing on reruns of Andy Griffith (my favorite show) or Green Acres. Sounds like a crazy idea doesn't it? If you are sick you go to the doctor, he treats you and charges you a reasonable fee for his services. Wow, ground breaking! There is a very interesting biographical type article written by Dr. Berry available here.

Actually, in our culture, this is radical. Dr. Berry will probably never be featured on his own reality show, top the list of highest paid Docs, have a garage full of foreign sports cars, or a couple of vacation homes on the coast. I doubt any of these aforementioned are on his list of must do. But, Dr. Berry appears to be on the cutting edge of retro-health care. I suspect he is very well liked by his patients and the community he serves. Maybe this will catch on. I'd go to a reputable Doc who bucked the system and had a pay as you go plan. Wonder what an appendectomy goes for these days??