Direct Primary Care: $79/mo, Real Math

Direct primary care is a $79-$99 monthly membership that replaces your insurance copay and your thirty-minute wait for a seven-minute appointment. You pay the clinic directly. Insurance is not involved. Unlimited visits, most labs at wholesale, same-day appointments, and the ability to text your doctor. It saves some people $800 a year. It saves other people $0. This guide tells you which camp you're in.

If you currently have a high-deductible plan with a $40 copay and you see your primary care doctor four times a year, you're paying $160 in copays. If you also do $400 of cash-pay labs (which most insurance plans only partially cover after deductible), you're at $560. A DPC membership at $79/mo is $948/year, which is more. DPC loses for you.

If you have a family of four on the same plan, visits multiply, labs multiply, and the DPC family membership (typically $150-$200/mo for a family) starts winning. If you have a chronic condition that benefits from monthly check-ins (thyroid, hypertension, PCOS, mental health) DPC wins quickly.

DPC replaces routine care, not catastrophic care. If you break a leg, you still need insurance. The pairing most DPC members use: a high-deductible plan or a health share that covers hospitalization, stacked on top of a DPC membership that covers everything else. Total monthly cost for a healthy 35-year-old: $300-$400. Total monthly cost under a traditional bronze plan: $500-$650.