The objective is to provide better free-market competition with access to higher quality care at lower prices.
[4] Consequently, because direct pay members are usually automatically billed a physicians practice's cash flow can also be improved.
Coverage is more complete and affordable though still lacking for certain services depending on both the DPC practice and Healthshare plan.
Therefore, in cases where the DPC provider has chosen to participate in the healthcare marketplace,[clarification needed] the patient would be required to carry and pay for an additional insurance coverage plan for catastrophic and hospital services in addition to the DPC arrangement for primary health care access if he/she purchases this plan from the healthcare marketplace.
that DPC plans can be more expensive in the long term, since by design none of the payments made to the DPC provider practice are counted towards insurance deductibles because the provider neither accepts insurance nor participates in the submission and management of the insurance claims process, potentially resulting in a higher out-of-pocket catastrophic or hospital services cost to the patient because deductibles would not necessarily have been reached when these services are provided.