At $99 a month, HealthTap Prime lets you video chat with medical specialists anytime

Himanshu Arora

Posts: 902   +7
Staff

HealthTap, an online medical question-and-answer service that boasts 10 million active users and a pool of over 60,000 doctors from across the US, yesterday unveiled an updated version of its product. Dubbed Prime, the new service, which is available through the company’s mobile apps and website, lets you text or video conference with a doctor, whatever the hour.

The value proposition here is that the service saves you making an appointment with a doctor and traveling to their office for a meeting, which may take 1-2 hours depending upon various factors. With Prime, however, you can get access to a doctor within a few minutes.

While the Palo Alto, California-based company's question-and-answer service is free, Prime comes at a cost, requiring you to shell out $99 a month, plus $10 for every additional family member. There is no limit on how many times you can contact a doctor with the service.

While companies like Better, Doctor on Demand, American Well, and more, already provide telemedicine services (24/7 access to a personal health assistant, nurse line, automated symptom checker, and more) at much lower rates ($40 - $50), Prime goes beyond these sorts of services.

According to HealthTap's Chief Executive Ron Gutman, the company's latest offering will provide ongoing support after the consultation through customized checklists, personalized health news, and various reminders and notifications.

“We’re not just in the business of scheduling appointments or finding information, we’re in the business of making people feel good”, he said.

At this point, it's difficult to predict whether people will pay $99 a month for a virtual health service, which is in addition to their regular insurance payments. Meanwhile, market research firm IHS predicts the telemedicine industry will grow to $1.9 billion in 2018 from $240 million last year.

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I had an infection from a cut on my ankle a couple months ago and had to have 2 visits before it got cleared up. Each visit was more than this is per month, if this is something you could pay on an as needed basis it would be worth it, I had insurance but with deductibles and such I ended up paying over $100 each visit (forget the exact amount). It was very obvious what was wrong, and how to fix it, I could have done this with a video call no problem. However if it is subscription based, it wouldn't be worth it for me.
 
I had an infection from a cut on my ankle a couple months ago and had to have 2 visits before it got cleared up. Each visit was more than this is per month, if this is something you could pay on an as needed basis it would be worth it, I had insurance but with deductibles and such I ended up paying over $100 each visit (forget the exact amount). It was very obvious what was wrong, and how to fix it, I could have done this with a video call no problem. However if it is subscription based, it wouldn't be worth it for me.
I completely agree. Id gladly pay $15-$30 a usage if it were helpful.
 
I had an infection from a cut on my ankle a couple months ago and had to have 2 visits before it got cleared up. Each visit was more than this is per month, if this is something you could pay on an as needed basis it would be worth it, I had insurance but with deductibles and such I ended up paying over $100 each visit (forget the exact amount). It was very obvious what was wrong, and how to fix it, I could have done this with a video call no problem. However if it is subscription based, it wouldn't be worth it for me.

What was the total bill (the bit the insurance company paid)? I had to get two stitches a couple years back. Insurance covered it and all we had to pay was $20. The actual bill, however? $1,180 for a blue string, saline, and the numbing agent they used.

To say this service is worth it is an understatement, especially if uninsured.
 
I had an infection from a cut on my ankle a couple months ago and had to have 2 visits before it got cleared up. Each visit was more than this is per month, if this is something you could pay on an as needed basis it would be worth it, I had insurance but with deductibles and such I ended up paying over $100 each visit (forget the exact amount). It was very obvious what was wrong, and how to fix it, I could have done this with a video call no problem. However if it is subscription based, it wouldn't be worth it for me.

What was the total bill (the bit the insurance company paid)? I had to get two stitches a couple years back. Insurance covered it and all we had to pay was $20. The actual bill, however? $1,180 for a blue string, saline, and the numbing agent they used.

To say this service is worth it is an understatement, especially if uninsured.

How exactly doctor will apply blue string and saline over the WiFi connection?
 
@davislane1 I don't remember, I think it was about $150 on first visit and $140 on 2nd. Insurance may not have paid any of it, or very little outside of maybe discounting the antibiotics.
It was already infected by the time I went (didn't think it was as bad as it was when it happened, was a really tough spot to get a good look at). All they did was prescribe me some antibiotics, 10 days later it was mostly healed but not enough, I went back, got 7 more days. That fixed it (by about day 16).
 
What was the total bill (the bit the insurance company paid)? I had to get two stitches a couple years back. Insurance covered it and all we had to pay was $20. The actual bill, however? $1,180 for a blue string, saline, and the numbing agent they used..
At that price, you should have downed a couple of oxys, sprayed the area with Solarcaine and sewed yourself up.

At any rate, being an old fart on Medicare with the mandatory prescription drug plan, a course of penicillin usually runs me about 80 cents.

Don't hate me because I'm beautiful.......ly covered.;)

@SNGX1275 Next time, (hopefully there won't be one but), Use a topical anti-biotic as soon as you're injured. There's a bunch of different fungus species on and around feet, even clean ones.

Wear white socks, and as I said, a triple antibiotic topical such containing neomycin, bacitracin, and a 3rd player to be named later. Oh wait, polysporin, yeah that's the ticjket.

That will be $99.00, and no, I don't take bitcoin....:cool:
 
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@captaincranky - It was a softball sliding injury, in retrospect, I think my ankle cut was caused by sliding into 3rd baseman's cleat(s) and deeper than I expected. I put some bag balm (not topical antibiotic but supposed to be good for abrasions) on the sliding cuts on the outside of my leg and ankle. Leg healed fine, ankle did not. First doctor said I shouldn't have put anything on the ankle because the cut was too deep for that. Like I said above though, it was a really awkward spot on my ankle to get a good look at - it didn't hurt terribly bad (until the infection). I'll stay away from the bag balm next time.
 
How exactly doctor will apply blue string and saline over the WiFi connection?

Stitches and a flushing agent (saline) can be applied by anyone who knows how to sew. The doc need only assess the damage. In my case, the tear was in a location I couldn't see (just under the chin, underneath my goatee).
 
Stitches and a flushing agent (saline) can be applied by anyone who knows how to sew. The doc need only assess the damage. In my case, the tear was in a location I couldn't see (just under the chin, underneath my goatee).
And the moral of the story is, boys and girls, if you want to look like the devil by wearing a goatee, there's hell to pay.....!:D
 
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