Fee for service payment is designed to protect the private relationship between patient and doctor. Commercial insurance companies and programs like Medicaid and Medicare routinely use their financial leverage to influence how doctors make clinical decisions. Cost reduction is the goal, and that means longer waits for appointments, and overall, less care rather than more.

When you pay your doctor directly at the time of service, he is not subject to financial incentives and fee schedules that would steer him toward offering you the insurance plan’s preferred treatment options. Fee for service payment keeps you, the patient, in the driver’s seat, because no one knows better than you what you need and what you can afford on your personal budget.