N.Y. doctor offers flat-rate care for uninsured

By Claudia Parsons

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York doctor is offering flat-rate health care for the uninsured for $79 a month, but he has run afoul of state insurance regulations in a case that challenges the established norms of the U.S. health system.

U.S. President Barack Obama has pledged a major overhaul of the $2.5 trillion U.S. healthcare industry, which operates on a system of private health insurance and state-funded Medicare and Medicaid programs for the elderly and poor.

The United States spends more on healthcare than any other country, but at least 46 million people have no insurance.

Dr. John Muney, president of AMG Medical Group, said he started the program in September after noticing that many of his patients were losing their jobs, and therefore, their health insurance coverage.

About 500 people have registered for Muney's $79-a-month plan, accounting for 15 percent of patients at the practice, which has offices in each of New York's five boroughs.

The monthly $79 fee -- roughly equivalent to the price of a Starbucks coffee a day -- covers unlimited preventive visits and onsite medical services such as minor surgery, physical therapy, lab work and gynecological care.

Ilana Clay, a 28-year-old who works in marketing for a jewelry firm, said she signed up in March because she could not afford her employer's health insurance, which would have cost around $300 a month.

"I hadn't been to a doctor in a couple of years at that point," she told Reuters. She had a scar removed in a quick onsite procedure that was covered by the plan.