WEST DES MOINES, Iowa — Affordable Care Act subsidies expiring have forced some people to look for other options for healthcare. Hy-Vee Exemplar Care is offering a different, pay-per-month membership plan aimed at providing a more convenient and cost-effective option for members.
The West Des Moines location has both direct primary care options as well as an urgent care that is open 24/7, 365 days a year. The primary care services are appointment-based for basic care such as physicals or bloodwork, while the urgent care option provides walk-in services like flu diagnosis and being prescribed an anti-viral. These services are all included in a payment of $89 per month.
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Dr. Jon Van Der Veer, founder and CEO of Hy-Vee Exemplar Care, said that both primary care and urgent care visits can be expensive, with and without insurance. Without insurance, he said, people could pay $200-$600 for an urgent care visit. Even with insurance, he said, patients have to pay a copay, then potentially more if deductibles aren’t yet met.
“This gives us an opportunity to provide services at that fixed cost of our membership that then keep people from not having any care,” Van Der Veer said. “So if you don’t have insurance, a lot of people won’t go anywhere because they don’t know what the costs will be. And cost and price in health care aren’t often tied together. They’re just loosely associated. So this gives people a chance to know, okay, I’m going to get all of these services, my flu shots included, all of these different pieces that we provide for our care for that fixed cost.”…