Our community is blessed with wonderful medical referral services that operate free of charge to the community. ECHO, MRA, Refuah Resources, and Relief, are a few of these that provide information and invaluable access to top notch doctors and specialists.

However, many patients who need medical care do not have the best insurance, and many of these specialists do not take their insurance. Some specialists don’t take any insurance, requiring a huge expense for the patient who needs their care. Medical costs are skyrocketing, with typical fees way out of the budget for many families.

I challenge ECHO & all the other organizations that provide these wonderful referral services for our community – help us in more ways than one. Take not only the medical professionalism and experience of the doctor, but also the financial ability of the patient to afford the doctor fees and costs. If there is another choice of doctor that accepts insurance more readily, mention them. Patients should not automatically be forced to spend money they don’t have when there are often times an acceptable alternative.

Of course, in a question of life and death, the most qualified doctor must be seen, regardless of the cost. But on many matters that require the care of a specialist, a decent choice of doctors with more lenient insurance options should be researched and referred to for the benefit of our community.

Visiting a doctor, when needed, should not have to force a struggling family to pay money that they can’t afford. Especially when a qualified alternative was available at a fraction of the cost.

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