Plum Health Blog
Affordable and Accessible Health Care in Detroit
Affordable and Accessible Health Care in Detroit
At Plum Health, our goal is to make health care affordable and accessible in Detroit and beyond. We have a membership model for health care and our patients about $55 each month to $75 each month. Children pay $15 per month with an enrolled adult. When you’re a member of Plum Health, you can call, text, or email your doctor any time. You can come in for a visit anytime without a co-pay. Visits to Plum Health are included as a part of the membership. We also save people money on their medications and lab work. We buy medications at wholesale prices from AndaMeds, and then we sell these medications to our patients with little to no markup. This makes the medications that we dispense out of our practice much less expensive - sometimes 50% to 90% less expensive - than medications at the retail pharmacy.
Another way that we make health care more affordable and accessible is via house calls. As a physician, I make house calls for my patients. If our patients are in Detroit, we charge $100 per house call. If they live outside of the city, we may charge more to cover gas prices and time spent driving to the home that may be further away.
Dr. Paul Thomas with Plum Health DPC makes a house call for one of his members at Plum Health. Dr. Paul drove out to their home on the West Side of the City to make the house call.
Dr. Leslie Rabaut is a Family Medicine Doctor in Detroit Michigan
Dr. Leslie Rabaut is a Family Medicine Doctor in Detroit Michigan
Dr. Leslie Rabaut is a Family Medicine Doctor in Detroit Michigan and she is accepting new patients at our Plum Health DPC office in Corktown, at the corner of Michigan and Trumbull. Here’s her most recent review from one of our patients in our Plum Health practice:
I am fairly certain Dr. Leslie Rabaut is a literal genius. At the very least she is incredibly well-versed in medical knowledge and unbelievably sharp in her ability to recall unusual causation and find correlative patterns. She deserves an actual prize. She is "the Doctor's doctor". If you're smart and tired of poor medical care, or work in the field, pick her. Pick her brilliant brain.
To become a patient of Dr. Leslie Rabaut, you can enroll in our service, here.
Plum Health DPC Offering the COVID 19 Vaccine
We are elated to be offering both the Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson vaccine to our patients at Plum Health DPC. If you haven't gotten your dose yet, please call our office at 313.444.5630. We are more than happy to give you the vaccine, for your health and the health of our community.
The Pfizer vaccine is a two dose series, with one dose being given now/at time zero and the second dose being given 3 weeks later.
The Johnson and Johnson vaccine is a one dose series and can be given at any time.
Thanks for reading, and have a great day.
- Dr. Paul Thomas with Plum Health DPC
Detroit Demo Day - Plum Health DPC Two Years Later
Back in 2021, we won Detroit Demo Day - we competed with several other businesses and we won $50,000 to help us get to the next level.
Since then, we've:
Tripled the number of patients served
Built out a brand new office in Detroit's Corktown Neighborhood
Opened up a second office in Farmington Hills
Created a more sustainable business
If you want to accelerate the growth of your business, apply for Demo Day pitch competition as it can be rocket fuel for your next big move! More details, here.
Raquel Orlich DO is a Detroit Doctor who is Board Certified in Obesity Medicine
Raquel Orlich DO is a Detroit Doctor who is Board Certified in Obesity Medicine
Dr. Raquel Orlich is Board Certified in Family Medicine and she is Board Certified in Obesity Medicine. Dr. Orlich helps people in our practice lose weight and keep it off with an evidence-based approach. This is just another way that we're making comprehensive health care affordable and accessible at Plum Health DPC.
Dr. Raquel Orlich is Board Certified in Obesity Medicine and Family Medicine. She helps patients lose weight via an evidence-based approach to care.
Rates of Obesity in Detroit
The rate of Obesity in Detroit is 38%, that means that more than 1 in 3 Detroiters are Obese. The rate of Obesity in the State of Michigan is high as well, and it leads to early heart attacks and strokes, as well as an increase in the risk of diabetes. Here’s some striking findings from a recent report from the Michigan Department of Community Health:
Michigan had the 8th highest prevalence rate of obesity in the United States in 2008.
In 2008, 65.3% of Michigan adults were either overweight or obese; 35.2% were overweight and an additional 30.1% were obese.
Blacks had a significantly higher obesity rate (39.8%) than whites (28.8%).
Obese adults had a higher prevalence of arthritis, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, asthma, coronary heart disease, stroke, heart attack, diabetes and inadequate sleep compared with non-obese adults.
Obese adults also reported the highest prevalence of poor life satisfaction, poor general health, poor physical health, poor mental health and activity limitations compared with non-obese adults.
This is why it’s so important to take an evidence-based approach to weight loss via healthy eating and healthy exercising. If we continue to grow heavier as a society and as a community, the weight-related comorbidities will cause big problems for our overall health - physical, psychological, and emotional.
If you’d like to schedule a consultation with Dr. Raquel Orlich, you can do so here.
Three Excellent Family Physicians in Detroit Michigan Accepting New Patients
Detroit Primary Care Doctors Accepting New Patients
Paul Thomas MD, Raquel Orlich DO, and Leslie Rabaut DO are family medicine doctors accepting new patients in Detroit, Michigan. Their practice is called Plum Health and they see patients using a membership model for health care. Patients pay a low monthly fee to be a part of Plum Health, and with that membership, receive excellent primary care services.
Patients can come into the office whenever they want to be seen - we guarantee a same-day or next-day appointment for our Plum Health members. We also offer easy communication, with phone calls, text message, and email access to the doctors.
To see what all the buzz is about, you can enroll yourself, your family, or your small business into the Plum Health service via this link.
Thanks for reading and have a wonderful week!
The Doctors at Plum Health DPC are Raquel Orlich DO, Paul Thomas MD, and Leslie Rabaut DO. They are all board certified family medicine physicians and they are all accepting new patients.
Connect with Dr. Paul Thomas on LinkedIn
If you’d like to connect with Dr. Paul Thomas on LinkedIn, follow this link:
The Shocking Reason Why Health Insurance Premiums Continue to Rise
This year, I had the opportunity to speak at TEDxDetroit. At first, I struggled with what to say, other than I’m grateful for the platform and the opportunity. But, I realized that it was important to discuss the outrageous increases in health insurance costs for the average American family.
The Way Rising Health Insurance Costs Affect the Take Home Pay of Americans
The average family in the United States paid about $3,500 for employer-sponsored health insurance coverage in 2009 and that amount of money ballooned to about $6,000 in 2019.
What’s even worse is that employers were spending $9,860 per employee in 2009 to administer those health insurance plans, and in 2019 they’re paying $14,561 for those same health insurance plans.
All of this money spent on Health Insurance costs is a huge detriment for our national economy and for the paychecks of individual Americans. Imagine if health insurance costs were the same today as they were in 2009, each American family would have an extra $10,000 in wages from their employer. Instead, that extra $10,000 is spent on health insurance costs.
The Reason Why Health Insurance Costs Continue to Rise in the United States
Let’s start by discussing the 80/20 rule in the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The ACA set forth some well-intentioned provisions. Here’s what HealthCare.gov has to say about this 80/20 rule:
The 80/20 Rule generally requires insurance companies to spend at least 80% of the money they take in from premiums on health care costs and quality improvement activities. The other 20% can go to administrative, overhead, and marketing costs. The 80/20 rule is sometimes known as Medical Loss Ratio, or MLR.
According to the American Economic Association: “Rather than lower premiums, insurers searched for other ways to come into compliance. Initially, there were efforts to relabel some administrative costs as “quality improvements”—like lobbying to count spending on nurses’ hotlines as part of the 80 percent. But the easiest route to meeting the requirement was simply to let medical claims increase. That companies opted to do this, instead of lowering premiums, didn’t come as a surprise”
Within that 20% of administrative, overhead, and marketing costs, insurance companies have their profit margin. Therefore, the more money spent on insurance claims, no matter how bogus, the larger the profit margin becomes for the insurance companies.
Increased Health Care Spending on Inflated Health Insurance Claims
This brings me to the glaring example of inflated health care costs based on questionable medical care and out-of-network billing. In December 2019, I heard about the $25,865 throat swab that Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota paid for. The gist of the story, from NPR’s Bill of the Month series, is that a woman in Manhattan went to a doctor for a sore throat, received a throat swab, and was given an antibiotic.
Because the throat swab was processed by an out-of-network lab, the cost of the throat swab was $25,865.
First of all, a good primary care doctor can develop a trusting relationship with a patient, obtain a history of the illness, and perform a physical exam for 99% of viral or bacterial throat infections or cases of pharyngitis. In other words, a throat swab is NOT NEEDED in 99% of pharyngitis cases.
Second, the fact that the insurance company paid for this $25,865 throat swab is insane. The reasonable cost for a throat swab like this might be $100 to $500, no $25,865. If I ran the insurance company, I would be calling the out-of-network lab’s bluff here and they’d be paid a reasonable $500 at most.
However, as discussed above, the more money insurance companies spend on health care or medical losses, the more profits they’re able to rake in due to the 80/20 rule in the affordable care act.
That’s why we’ve seen our health care spending increase from $2.5 Trillion in 2009 to $4.01 Trillion in 2020.
We must end these insane health insurance practices before it further affects our earnings and our Nation’s economy.
Thanks for reading and thanks for watching my TEDxDetroit talk,
-Dr. Paul Thomas with Plum Health DPC in Detroit
Paul Thomas MD at TEDxDeroit 2020
Paul Thomas MD at TEDxDetroit 2020
It’s a tremendous honor to be back at TEDxDetroit! I spoke in 2017 about our mission to provide affordable and accessible healthcare in Detroit and beyond.
This year, I’m grateful for TEDxDetroit, the community of positive supporters who are working to make Detroit better everyday, and the opportunity to share my perspective on why our health care costs continue to rise.
Join me tonight on the virtual main stage at 8:15 pm - the event is free and all are welcome!
If you're not already registered, GO! What are you waiting for? TEDxDetroit 2020 starts at 10am and it's FREE: http://tedxdetroit.connect.space/
If you're registered, snap a selfie in the virtual photo gallery: https://virtual.fancyflashpb.com/virtual/capture/owZX3
Paul Thomas MD will be speaking at TEDxDetroit. For more information, go to https://www.tedxdetroit.com/speakers-2020/
Coronavirus Update: Have we Flattened the Curve in Michigan?
Coronavirus Update for Detroit and Michigan
As of the filming of this video, there were 32,967 coronavirus cases in the State of Michigan and 2,700 confirmed deaths in the State of Michigan. The increase from April 21st to April 22nd was 967 new cases and 232 new deaths.
This death count was pushed up by deaths that occurred previously and were not attributed to Coronavirus, but are now attributed to Coronavirus. In the video, we mistakenly attributed this jump in new deaths to perhaps an accurate counting of bodies at DMC's Sinai Grace Hospital (https://www.wxyz.com/news/coronavirus/disturbing-images-show-bodies-piled-up-at-sinai-grace-hospital-in-detroit), but this was not the case.
Flattening the Curve
In Detroit and in Michigan, we seem to be flattening the curve. Our public health efforts and the greater community support of these measures seems to be working to reduce the number of new infections. On April 3rd, there were nearly 2,000 cases reported that day. As of April 22nd, there were only 967 new cases reported. This is a good sign that we're being effective in our community strategies and social distancing efforts.
How Vaccines Work and How They May Help Us Prevent Coronavirus in the Future
Vaccines work when scientists are able to take a virus, break it down, and inject only the protein capsule into the body. That's what we, as scientists, do with the flu vaccine. We remove the RNA from the virus, the part of the virus that replicates and creates more viruses, and we give our patients only the viral proteins.
This way, our bodies can create antibodies or a robust immune response to the viral proteins, and prevent a larger infection from taking hold when we're exposed to the actual virus.
What's an Example of a Successful Vaccine from the Past?
Let's use Polio as an example.
In the late 1940s, polio outbreaks in the U.S. increased in frequency and size, crippling an average of more than 35,000 people each year. Parents were frightened to let their children go outside, especially in the summer when the virus seemed to peak. Travel and commerce between affected cities were sometimes restricted. Public health officials imposed quarantines (used to separate and restrict the movement of well people who may have been exposed to a contagious disease to see if they become ill) on homes and towns where polio cases were diagnosed.(https://www.cdc.gov/polio/what-is-polio/polio-us.html)
In 1952, the number of polio cases in the U.S. peaked at 57,879, resulting in 3,145 deaths. Those who survived this highly infectious disease could end up with some form of paralysis, forcing them to use crutches, wheelchairs or to be put into an iron lung, a large tank respirator that would pull air in and out of the lungs, allowing them to breathe. (https://www.discovermagazine.com/health/the-deadly-polio-epidemic-and-why-it-matters-for-coronavirus)
The first polio vaccine was available in the United States in 1955, invented by Jonas Salk.
Thanks to the polio vaccine, dedicated health care professionals, and parents who vaccinate their children on schedule, polio has been eliminated in this country for more than 30 years. This means that there is no year-round transmission of poliovirus in the United States.
Since 1979, no cases of polio have originated in the U.S.
However, the virus has been brought into the country by travelers with polio. The last time this happened was in 1993.
Hopefully, we can achieve the same results with a future Coronavirus Vaccine.
What is Herd Immunity?
Herd Immunity means that enough people in the population are immune to the Coronavirus, which will greatly limit its spread.
This Herd Immunity can be achieved in a few different ways. First, once a number of Americans get the Coronavirus, they will fight off the infection and become immune, limiting the spread of the virus once they recover.
Second, once a vaccine is developed, many more people will become immune through vaccination. Just like being vaccinated for the influenza virus, or for Polio, or for Measles, Mumps, and Rubella, once you’ve been vaccinated for these viruses, your body creates immunoglobulins or antibodies to help protect you from infection from these viruses.
Unfortunately, the Coronavirus or COVID-19 vaccine will take 18 months to 2 years to develop, so this option will take a long time to achieve.
Thanks for reading and watching,
- Dr. Paul Thomas and Dr. Raquel Orlich with Plum Health DPC