The Country Doctor

While interning at a rural newspaper after college I wrote a story on a Country Doctor. After med school, this woman had moved out to the country and setup an old-world-style practice, making house calls and running an office out of her home. She cited insurance interference in the doctor-patient relationship as her primary reason, and she was actually why ahead of her time, but that's not what made it into the article I wrote. Her rates worked out to be $1 a minute. The sticker shock floored me. True, car mechanics actually charge more, but they're smart enough to list their rate as $60 an hour. While $1 a minute to see a compassionate, knowledgeable doctor is a steal, I know that not many members of that community were willing to waste billable minutes on friendly chitchat with her during their appointments.