People who are sick are not able to shop around for medical care. This statement may be true in some cases, but not for the majority of illnesses. Those without insurance are especially sensitive to the price of medical care and are in fact very likely to shop for the combination of the lowest price, best quality care they can afford.
The RNCentral website gives some tips to the uninsured regarding how they can increase their access to care, improve the quality of care they are receiving, and reduce their out of pocket expenditures. One interesting company is TelaDoc. This firm provides a service which enables patients to phone a doctor 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to receive diagnosis and treatment information. While TelaDoc won’t cure cancer, it will help patients to find the correct treatment for minor illnesses.