Have a non-emergency medical question you want answered right way? Need a non-narcotic
prescription but can’t reach your doctor? Can’t afford to miss work, but don’t want to risk your
health or the health of your family members? If you are like most Americans, you’ve answered
‘yes’ to at least one or more of these questions.
Now, thanks to CallMD, there’s a nation-wide network of registered nurses and licensed medical
physicians standing by to take your phone call. That’s right. Telemedicine has finally come of
age, and what’s more, CallMD makes personal physician phone consultations affordable,
convenient and, equally important, fast and flexible enough to accommodate the full schedules
and on-the-go lifestyles of today’s moms, dads, college students and business professionals.
CallMD is available 24/7/365. CallMD is available to all members regardless of age. Our CallMD
doctors can provide a consultation to children under18 years of age through their parent or
guardian.
Shelter from healthcare’s perfect storm
The healthcare perfect storm that has been gathering steam for the past several decades in the
U.S. is today raging at a dangerous, unprecedented pitch. The latest national data reveals a steady
increase in healthcare spending which, left unchecked, by 2008 will increase 12 % over the $2
trillion spent in 2006 and is projected to reach a staggering 19.5% of the U. S. gross domestic
product by 20171.
About half of healthcare spending growth is due to medical price inflation2 -- the rising cost of
providing existing services to patients. In line with this, health insurance carriers anticipate
medical costs to rise across all plan types through 20083, driving more and more employers to
drop coverage, limit health plans and/or force higher premiums onto their employees.
The result of this spiraling cost? The amount spent on healthcare in the U.S. per person increased
78% between 1996 and 20064. Worse still, there are currently 47 million uninsured U.S.
residents5, and an additional 25 million who are underinsured6.
Inarguably, CallMD is no panacea for today’s acute healthcare crisis, but making telephone
consultations between doctors and patients widely available, easy and affordable is certainly a
smart and practical step in the right direction. CallMD lessens the strain on an overburdened,
over-priced healthcare system and saves businesses millions lost in productivity when workers
take time off to visit the doctor for a minor medical condition.
But most importantly -- for a growing number of U.S. residents -- CallMD offers a measure of
immediate, much welcomed shelter from today’s healthcare perfect storm.
1 Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Office of the Actuary
2 Ibid
3 PwC's Health Research Institute, Behind the Numbers (Medical Cost Trends for 2008)
4 Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Office of the Actuary
5 U.S. Census Bureau
6 Commonwealth Fund, How many are underinsured? Trends among U.S. Adults, 2003 and 2007
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