I am Canadian resident but want to pay cash to see a dermatologist, but only foreigners have this privilege. What can I do?
A lot of people are surprised that Canada actually has a fairly extensive private health care system. However clinics can either receive 100% of their income from patients or 100% of their income from the government healthcare system, no splitting allowed. This is why the vast majority of clinics choose to cater to the larger pool of patients who are only willing to use the services they already pay for through taxes. Foreigners fall outside the system, so they can pay cash to an otherwise publicly funded clinics in some provinces.If you go to a site such as the one below, it can help you find a private clinic:Find Private Clinics in Canada for Walk in Clinics in Montreal, Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver
Why do many General Practitioner doctors in India accept only cash as consultation fees and not cards or even Paytm?
I do accept payments by PayTM and UPI for selected patients.I accept PayTM and UPI only from patients whom I have been knowing for some time. If you know, when PayTM was new, there were many frauds where fraudsters would show you “screenshot” and disappear with the goods. PayTM does send you SMS, but at times, the SMS gets delayed by 10 mins or more.I do not use a POS machine to accept cards because:I need to maintain a Current Account with the bank. I also need to maintain a balance, atleast Rs. 10,000 and pay services charges.Unless and until I am willing to maintain a higher balance, like 25K, I need to pay a certain deposit to get the card swipe machine.If the machine gets damaged, I have to pay some more money to get an replacement. This is a very real risk because we usually have troublesome irritating kids(whom we call ‘mischievous’ for sake of politeness) accompanying their parents who have a habit of ‘exploring’ things in our clinic. Such troublesome kids will reach upto things that they are not supposed to, drop and damage a few things in that process, etc.I have to pay a commission on every transaction to the bank.Some banks allow withdrawal only on specific daysSome banks may not even allow us to withdraw the entire amount(except while closing the account) as they have to manage risk for disputed charges.What if the card-holder disputes the charge? What is the card-holder alleges that it was a card-fraud? How should we prove that it was indeed the card-holder who had swiped the card? Should we install CCTVs for that?As a trade-off, for the amount of money that we usually expect to receive from a card payment, we are better writing-off that small amount instead of investing 10K(current account balance) + 500(interest earned on savings or FD) + 5 to 10K(card machine deposit) + transaction commission. It is within ‘common sense’ to deploy a Rs. 20000 setup to collect Rs. 100 payment? If a patient is not carrying cash, it is practical to forget those Rs. 100(and think of it as ‘charity’) rather than investing Rs. 20K for setup up the card machine.I think patients who do not use PayTM or UPI based have no moral right to suggest that we should take Cards.I know there are people who live on credit cards, and hence will be unable to use PayTM or UPI, but fortunately such people are exceedingly rare amongst the ones coming to us.
Why do most Doctors not accept cash as payment. You must have health Insurance?
Ask to speak to the billing director or office manager. They should help you. Explain to them that you make too much for Medicaid but have prepared for visits and delivery. They may want a portion up front or as down payment. I don't understand why they would require you to have insurance if you are ready to give them money! It may take a bit of calling around, but somone will take cash payment. Also, I totally understood what you meant by saying you make too much for medical assistance.
I have no insurance to go to the doctor to get checked checked out ..?
Went to er and they turned me away.. my bellybelly has been gettin hard.. im scared I might be pregnant but dont see how after havin my tubes tied 3 months ago.. but have signs so I took so test and they say no im not..
Would you be embarrassed going to a "free clinic"?
Dont be afraid or embarased because all of those taxes from your past paychecks made it possible for someone else who were down on their luck to go to free clinics. Now you need some help so take it GOD Bless
Is it illegal for my doctor to accept cash as a payment?
1st, all doctors do not participate in all insurance plans, so it was ok for you to pay cash. I am a little confused about the rest of this however. If you need to make an appointment and they are not accepting your insurance quite yet, then you need to pay somehow...unless they are in process of getting credentialed through the insurance company, and they will back date them a month or so. Then I would understand them saying hold off on the payment until the insurance company has finally got them in their system as a provider that accepts their insurance, and then we will process your claims for payment. You should still be able to be seen. Usually though, during this process, you pcp will still want co-payment (if any).