Finding a ‘Medical Home’ for $2 a Month

clipped from blogs.wsj.com Good primary care is cheap, country doctor Benjamin Brewer declares in his latest WSJ.com column. It’s almost become cliché to speak of “soaring health-care costs,” so it’s rather jarring to see the words “cheap” and “care” in the same sentence. But Brewer says good quality primary care is “cheaper than your cellphone bill. Cheaper than a tank of gas. Cheaper than dinner and a movie.” Brewer’s practice is taking part in an Illinois Medicaid program that aims to address both problems by placing patients in “medical homes.” No, not a physical home. Instead the plan, like some others being tried, would match people with doctors’ offices that would play an active role in coordinating the patients’ care. Brewer adds that patients who don’t have a medical home incur higher health costs and report more illness.