Guests don’t say that. Mostly I hear: “Could I
talk to my husband and call you back.…..?”
Unlike the competition, I don’t confine myself to
upscale hotels. Plenty of Holiday Inns, Ramadas, and motels call, and I quote
fees less than the going rate. Colleagues complain but admit that it’s not a
competitive advantage because hotels don’t care what the doctor charges. Still,
counting driving time, a hotel visit rarely takes less than an hour, so it’s
not cheap.
Helpless in a strange country and forewarned that
medical care in America requires vast sums, foreign guests are easier to deal
with.
America medical insurance takes a dim view of
housecalls. No hotel doctor accepts it, so Americans, already disoriented at
finding a doctor willing to make a housecall, learn that they must pay out of
their pocket. It’s a shock.
Like all doctors, I like to present myself as a
humanitarian, and I often reduce my fee if the guest feels too miserable to
leave the room, but mostly, when Americans object, I send them to an urgent
care clinic.
Walking through a clinic door costs around $100.
While this is much less than a housecall, clinics charge extra for tests,
procedures, shots, and supplies, and the patient must find a pharmacy and then
pay for the prescription. I don’t charge extra for anything. Telling all this
to guests sounds too much like a sales pitch, so I simply send them to a
clinic. Insurance might pay part of their bill.
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