3rd Party Pay

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Milton Friedman describes a pay value quadrant that describes the disconnect of value when a third party pays.  If a 3rd party pays for your care, then you will demand whatever resources it will take to get a 100% good result.  And if payment is predicated on solving a medical issue, you will wait until the issue is apparent before you have it looked at by the doctor, probably the most expensive time.

Currently my primary care physician is more a life style coach where he gets me to lose weight, reduce sugars in my diet and modify my diet in some counter intuitive ways so that I feel great. The expense of this type of education and supervision is not one that is compensated by insurance plans and so I pay cash directly to the doctor because it is apparent I find a good value proposition in reducing the chances of a cataclysmic medical incident and offset the risk by purchasing a high deductible medical plan.

This avoid 3rd party payment strategy for everything but the most catastrophic medical incident is not for everyone since it requires a good medical education, but it is the best value out there.