I recently signed up for Amazon One Medical, largely because I saw a $49 price for a video visit. It seemed like a reasonable, inexpensive alternative to going to my regular doctor.
I saw this on their website at https://health.amazon.com/onemedical. Doesn't it sound awesome?:
My experience was very different.
After having what I thought was a $49 video visit, I received notice that One Medical had billed my insurance $335. Because I hadn't met my deductible, I was then responsible for $120 of that amount.
I called One Medical to find out what happened. I was told that I had apparently scheduled a regular visit, which is charged at their normal rates, rather than using an “on-demand” visit, which would have been free with my membership. I didn't see this anywhere and it felt like a bat-and-switch situation. I really would have preferred a notification that said: "Warning: $49 charge cancelled - full fee $335 will be assessed if you continue."
I explained that I was confused by the distinction. The representative's response was essentially that this was my fault because the website was perfectly clear. When I asked to escalate the issue, he initially told me there was no way to escalate it. I called back later and got another representative who did escalate the matter.
Today, an escalation manager named Armando called me. His conclusion was basically the same: I should have read the fine print, and One Medical wasn't willing to do anything about the charge. They did offer a 12-month interest-free payment plan, but it required giving them a credit card, which I wasn't comfortable doing.
At that point I decided to cancel my membership.
I was paying $69 a year for the privilege of potentially paying more for a doctor visit than I pay my regular doctor.
Apparently I'm not the only one
I searched the web to see if this was an exception but found this thread on Reddit, Quite a few other people reporting surprisingly large bills for One Medical virtual visits.
One person reported a $412 bill for a 10-minute video visit. Another reported $745 for a 20-minute virtual visit. Someone else was charged $624 for a video visit, despite expecting the advertised $49 price. Most recently, another commenter reported being charged $325 for a virtual visit they thought was included with their subscription.
There are also people who have had good experiences. One commenter said they paid only $29 for treatment of a UTI and had medication sent to their pharmacy within hours. Another longtime member said they appreciated the app and the convenience of One Medical's “Treat Me Now” feature.
And that actually makes the problem clearer to me.
The service itself may be useful. The pricing is what I find unacceptable.
One commenter explained the distinction that apparently caught me: One Medical has different options, including pay-per-visit telehealth and membership-based services, with different billing arrangements. The problem is that this distinction wasn't clear enough to me when I scheduled the appointment.
If a company advertises a $49 video visit, I shouldn't have to discover afterward that I accidentally selected a completely different kind of visit that can generate a $335 insurance claim. Maybe that's technically disclosed somewhere in the fine print.
But “it's in the fine print” isn't the same thing as transparent pricing.
For me, the $69 membership ($99 for the next year) isn't worth paying for the privilege of getting misled and overcharged. I cancelled the service.
If you're considering One Medical because you see those $49 prices, be wary: You might get a big surprise!.
Sure looks to me like you can get a video care visit for $49, right? Nope - if you book the visit thinking it is on-demand, you get a bill for $333.
Doesn't this sound awesome?
See my review at yelp.com