We've made it easy for you to write to the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Below is a sample email with important points related to how the health reform law could be implemented to ensure direct primary care medical homes are supported.
Simply copy and paste the letter into an email, and personalize the letter with your information and perspective.
Email your letter to the Secretary at: Kathleen.Sebelius@hhs.gov
SUBJECT: Please Support Direct Primary Care Medical Homes
September ___, 2011
The Honorable Kathleen Sebelius
Secretary
Department of Health and Human Services
200 Independence Ave., SW
Washington D.C. 20201
Dear Secretary Sebelius:
I am a patient at a direct primary care medical home (DPCMH) practice called [NAME OF PRACTICE] in [CITY, STATE].
President Obama has promised ..."If you've got health insurance, you like your doctors, you like your plan, you can keep your doctor, you can keep your plan. Nobody is talking about taking that away from you." Well, I have a program that I like and it includes direct primary care. My monthly fee for primary care is very affordable, I have great access, and the care I receive is high quality.
Direct primary care helps me stay healthy and control my healthcare costs. Please help me keep it. Practices like the one I go to are not only reducing healthcare costs, but also improving the lives of patients like me. My doctor spends a good deal of time with me during each visit, and knows me personally. I don't want this to change.
I understand that you are working to create regulations that will govern the way the health reform bill is implemented with regard to direct primary care practices, and that you have some questions about whether it makes sense for patients to make two separate payments for their care purchased inside of a health exchange. (Once for direct primary care fees, and once for supplemental insurance).
I can tell you that I strongly prefer to pay my primary care physician directly. If I were forced to pay my primary care provider through a third-party insurance company, I have no doubt that the cost of this care would go up and the quality would come down. This is simply what happens when an unnecessary administrative burden is placed on primary care physicians, and when a third-party is in control of what can be charged, and what will be paid. I also like the idea that my doctor knows that he works for me, not my insurance company.
Direct primary care medical homes work best when patients like me have the right to choose, and the right to pay our physicians directly for our care. Please consider this as you draft regulations that will affect the way direct primary care practices can operate inside of the health care exchanges.
Thank you for considering my letter and helping protect my right to choose my preferred healthcare option.
Sincerely,
[YOUR NAME]
[YOUR CONTACT INFORMATION]