the trib this morning has an article on the latest in changes in health care. large pharmacies like Walgreens and Rite Aid are opening up care centers that are staffed by Nurse Practioners. anyone can go visit for what are considered minor ailments and get diagnosed. this is meant to be an alternative for people who don’t have health insurance. there is a lot of buzz in newsland, including some big stories in the national news. i was surprised to learn we have one here.

when i was a wee lad, with my first job with benefits, i remember signing up for the “PPO” plan. this required me to pay for healthcare through my paycheck and then pay something like a $1000 deductable before anything kicked in. i was a healthy kid, but the couple of times i got really sick and had to go to a doctor, i wasn’t only hit by the cost of the visit, i was also charged a new paitent fee. how many 22yr olds have $300 sitting around to pay a bill for a sore throat. this happened two years in a row due to the fact that my healthcare provider changed and i wasn’t able to go back to my original dr. if i had had the opportunity to go see a Nurse Practitioner in the first place for like $45, i would have probably not been as sick those years as I was.

further, how many of us do go to the “doctor” only to be helped by a nurse practitioner at the same cost.

my two cents: i like the idea if it is executed well. granted, the naysayers will point out that there may be misdiagnosis of disease and ailments, yet every day i hear from family and freinds where real doctors have misdiagnosed stuff, so where is the loss?