ridiculous cost of eye docs in the US

[poppy]

Out of curiousity recently I found out how much it would cost to see a particular dry eye doc in the US. It was $400 for a consultation only!!! This is ridiculous to me - most eye docs here charge about $160-200 for your first consult and maybe $100 for your next consult. If you get a full 20 minutes for your $400 OK that's a reasonable price but how often does that happen. In reality a doc will spend on average 2-3 minutes with the patient and the patient spends maybe 5 minutes with the docs assistant. If a doc is charging $400 for a 2-3 minute consult that doc is making an absolute fortune. It's obscene.

[Tankie]

That is ridiculous. I live in Canada, so honestly I don't know what a typical eye doctor charges, but wow, $400 is ridiculous considering the fact that for most people, one of the following is true:
- They see an eye doctor 30 times, then they get cured.
- They see an eye doctor 50 times, or more, and never get cured.

This is a very tough disease to beat, and if that's what you're paying for each appointment, you'll be out of money in no time. If I was you, I would really question how necessary seeing this doctor really is. You need to save that money for things like LipiFlow and Azasite, which are also ridiculously expensive, yet usually necessary.

Ask your questions on the forum, it's free. And then, after you've spent several weeks talking to people on here, then maybe it's time to pay money to a professional (although there are a lot of people here who know more than a lot of the doctors out there, so be careful as to which doctor you pick. Research your doctors, don't just see them because the sign on their doors says "Ophthalmologist"). Whatever you do, make sure you are very well informed when going to see a doctor, otherwise you'll be given a bunch of useless information that won't help you much, and you probably could have got for free from people on the forum.

Case in point:
You need to ask the doctor for two things, and two things only:
1. To perform treatment on you (which requires you to be seen in person)
2. To ask the very tough questions about procedures, treatments, and tests that we cannot answer for you since we can't see you in person (which also requires you to be seen in person).

If it doesn't require you to be seen in person, chances are the answer can be found on this forum!

[littlemermaid]

Max I've paid in UK is £300, min £135. Time has varied entirely according to his/her lordship's/ladyship's pleasure. This is uninsured. Anyone know what the standards are for medical insurance?

[Schatten]

I can tell ya how much a doctor in germany gets for a patient without a private insurance :

ordinary house doctor gets ~32 €
eye doc gets ~ 20 € (not even enough for a prescription rofl)

But if you go to a private doctor prices are the same as yours ...
400 bucks for 2-3 minutes examinations is ridiculous without labtests and other expenses !

It's sad but some doctors forget the hypocratic oath and now worship money xD

[poppy]

I can tell ya how much a doctor in germany gets for a patient without a private insurance :

ordinary house doctor gets ~32 €
eye doc gets ~ 20 € (not even enough for a prescription rofl)

But if you go to a private doctor prices are the same as yours ...
400 bucks for 2-3 minutes examinations is ridiculous without labtests and other expenses !

It's sad but some doctors forget the hypocratic oath and now worship money xD

The 20 euro is surely for an optometrist not an eye doctor? I was referring to eye doctors in my post, I don't know how much optometrists charge in the US but I'd assume it's a lot less.

I'm in Australia, here an optometrist also gets paid stuff all, they pretty much all bulk bill (meaning free to the patient), and I think they get paid something like $60 or $70 for a full eye exam that might take forty five minutes, for a shorter consultation I think it is less than $40 they get paid. I guess that these low incomes are supported by sales of glasses and contacts from their shops.

[Schatten]

The 20 euro is surely for an optometrist not an eye doctor? I was referring to eye doctors in my post, I don't know how much optometrists charge in the US but I'd assume it's a lot less.

No you read totally right, that's what an eye doctor gets in germany for every 3-months turn (this is how the year is divided here). If I understood you correct those 20 bucks are your "bulk bills"
Settled doctors only do laser stuff and regular controls here for more advanced treatment or the prescription of stuff like restasis you gotta go to an eye clinic.
Long exams are not possible anyway if you got like ~50 patients every day xD

[Rebecca Petris]

I agree it would be obscene if it were true but it's not.

Poppy, the 2-3 minutes with the doctor happens in many typical ophthalmology situations here (not in optometry) but NOT, to the best of my knowledge, with specialists charging high prices for initial consults.

I know doctors who charge very high consult rates (but spend a considerable time with you) and I know many doctors where a typical visit will involve tests and procedures that will add up quickly. I also know many doctors whose main revenue from dry eye comes from very high rates for specialized procedures.

There's a lot to complain about with dry eye care in this country but $400 for 2-3 minutes is definitely not one of them that most of us would expect with a dry eye specialist.

[poppy]

I agree it would be obscene if it were true but it's not.

Poppy, the 2-3 minutes with the doctor happens in many typical ophthalmology situations here (not in optometry) but NOT, to the best of my knowledge, with specialists charging high prices for initial consults.

I know doctors who charge very high consult rates (but spend a considerable time with you) and I know many doctors where a typical visit will involve tests and procedures that will add up quickly. I also know many doctors whose main revenue from dry eye comes from very high rates for specialized procedures.

There's a lot to complain about with dry eye care in this country but $400 for 2-3 minutes is definitely not one of them that most of us would expect with a dry eye specialist.

Thanks for your reply Rebecca.

Can anyone in the US who has seen famous doctors charging such high prices, clarify how long said doctor actually spends with them.

If I happened to be in the US I might consider forking out $400 to spend a considerable amount of time with a good doctor, but it seems risky to commit $400 if you don't know how long you are going to get. I guess I could always walk out without payment if they are a 2-3 minute, use some artificial tears type doc, and tell them to "sue me in Australia!" but I'd rather not have the stress.

LM paying 300 pounds for a brief consult for an eye doc certainly does sound obscene. It's always a bit hard to compare prices what with exchange rates and cost of living in different countries, but 300 pounds for a consult that doesn't seem to have been by a particularly memorable doctor sounds grossly excessive.

[Rebecca Petris]

Even setting aside the cost question, I don't think it's helpful to travel to a specialist without taking the initiative to ensure you don't get that 2-3 minutes. May be worth reading parts of my article on finding a new eye doctor, especially the bit on travel, and also part 5 on preparing for the appointment.

I would never travel to an out of town doctor without a commitment on their staff's part to ensuring I get a decent amount of 'chair time' since I would not be able to go back anytime soon. I would also do everything I could to make myself an interesting case that the dr. will want to spend time on, and I would want to help them with effective ways to get my entire history in a nutshell so they don't do too much repetition.

[Tankie]

Ya Rebecca's definitely got it right. The most important thing you can do is research who you're seeing before you see them. Definitely don't want to do anything like walking out of there without paying and telling them to sue you in Australia haha

Pick up that phone and lock in your chair time!

[littlemermaid]

LM paying 300 pounds for a brief consult for an eye doc certainly does sound obscene... 300 pounds for a consult that doesn't seem to have been by a particularly memorable doctor sounds grossly excessive.

In fairness, to clarify on this and support the advice to check what you get before paying. This was 300 quid well spent. He is an experienced, dedicated and knowledgeable paediatric surgeon who I hired for serious advice about the future, knowing he is researching and teaching on our problem. He is brave and massively overworked, but, most importantly for me, dedicated to maintaining access to free public health service for children, on which he is a strong leader in the UK. He shoulders this burden in his specialism and in management in his hospital for us all and for our children. He looked exhausted but he gave LM and I over an hour personally - examination, assessment, opinion, action - me giving the full history top speed off summary notes with imaging on CDs - and he has my respect and gratitude for what he did and said to help her. Very memorable and trustworthy. Part of the fee supports the NHS work and we would not have otherwise got access at this level. Unfortunately, not an ophthalmologist

[Mawsky]

Hi all, was glad to hear from Rebecca that she has had a much different experience than I. I initially saw my optometrist for what I thought was something in my eye I could not get out, he spent a good bit of time checking my eyes, and stated I had corneal abrasions on both eyes, and extremely dry, sent me that day to the ophthalmologist who I spend at least one hour in the waiting room, I was taken back and eye pressures measured by the assistant and dye placed. the eye doc came in spent no more that four minutes with me did examine my eyes, said they were dry, put me on a steroid drop, handed me some lubricating drop samples and asked me to return in one or two weeks, I retuned spent at least forty minutes waiting, was ushered back, same routine with assistant Doc came in asked how I was doing, I thought some better, he said good quick look at eyes (less than two minutes) grabbed some plugs,
placed them in my upper punctum's only, handed me an Rx for restasis, and return in
one month, I became worse and saw him in a week or two, he saw me for about three
minutes, he said you have to understand some people have what would be classified as dry eyes, but you have severe dry eyes.......duh! When I got the bills was shocked, I was charged around $250 for first bill, $700 for second (two plugs) and $200 for the last, and I mean last! The only time I heard from them was a follow up call from office staff, thought wow they do care, after asking how I was, and I talked about my dry eyes, I found out what the call was for, I had made an appointment before the dry eyes,and then cancelled to see someone in their office for a LASIK consult, they were calling to see if I'd still be interested, can you believe that, I had since found this wonderful forum, I told her I was shocked they would even consider such a thing on someone with "severe" dry eyes?? I don't need to tell you how I felt. I've never seen another Doctor, and may never, I live a bit far from Seattle, and don't trust anyone much anymore, I've learned so much from here, and have a great optometrist I see, so I just drop lots, and my eyes are doing better, or I'm just dropping so much I'm keeping them hydrated.

[poppy]

When I got the bills was shocked, I was charged around $250 for first bill, $700 for second (two plugs) and $200 for the last, and I mean last!

What is it with plugs being so expensive? I have no idea how much they cost here in Oz (would be kind of curious if anyone knows), but I don't understand how something that takes two minutes and that seemingly involves about 50 cents worth of material can cost so much. And over there in the US optometrists can do plugs so you would think the price would be more competitive.