How doctors can help low-income patients (and still make a profit) | P.J. Parmar

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4.1 • 11.9K Ratings

🗓️ 12 February 2019

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Modern American health care is defined by its high costs, high overhead and inaccessibility -- especially for low-income patients. What if we could redesign the system to serve the poor and still have doctors make money? In an eye-opening (and surprisingly funny) talk, physician P.J. Parmar shares the story of the clinic he founded in Colorado, where he serves only resettled refugees who mostly use Medicaid, and makes the business case for a fresh take on medical service.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This TED Talk features family physician PJ Parmar, recorded live at TEDx Mile High, 2018.
0:10.0	Colfax Avenue here in Denver, Colorado, was once called the longest, wickedest street in America.
0:19.0	My office is there in the same place. It's a medical desert.
0:22.6	There are government clinics and hospitals nearby,
0:24.6	but they're not enough to handle the poor who live in the area.
0:27.6	By poor, I mean those who are on Medicaid.
0:30.6	Not just for the homeless.
0:32.6	20% of this country is on Medicaid.
0:34.6	If your neighbors have a family of four
0:36.6	and make less than 33,000 a year, then they can get Medicaid. If your neighbors have a family of four and make less than 33,000 a year,
0:39.3	then they can get Medicaid.
0:41.3	But they can't find a doctor to see them.
0:44.3	A study by Merritt Hawkins found
0:45.9	that only 20% of the family doctors in Denver
0:48.2	take any Medicaid patients.
0:50.8	And of those 20%, some have caps
0:52.7	like five Medicaid patients a month.
0:55.8	Others make Medicaid patients wait months to be seen,
0:59.5	but we'll see you today if you have Blue Cross.
1:02.8	This form of classist discrimination is legal
1:05.7	and is not just a problem in Denver.
1:09.0	Almost half the family doctors in the country
	...

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