ST. PAUL, Minn.—At a press conference today at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom (CCHF, www.cchfreedom.org) unveiled ‘The Wedge of Health Freedom,’ a new initiative that points to a better way of doing health care that will allow doctors and patients to renew a personal relationship, while saving money and protecting privacy of patient data at the same time.
The creation of The Wedge of Health Freedom was a result of CCHF looking at the current state of health care: where high prices and government reporting are the norm; where one-size-fits-all treatments and narrow networks limit patient choices and tie doctors’ hands; where intrusive questionnaires and data-sharing without consent put patients’ privacy at risk; where an impersonal bureaucratic processes and managed care controls inhibit a true doctor-patient relationship and compromise care.
“The Wedge of Health Freedom will put patients and doctors back together, with the patient as the focus of the doctor’s attention,” said Twila Brase, co-founder and president of CCHF. “Obamacare, hundreds of thousands of government regulations, and corporate health plans have intruded in the patient-doctor relationship. But around the country, physicians and patients are breaking free. The Wedge of Health Freedom will point the way to this exciting escape route.
“With high-deductible insurance policies and health sharing organizations on the rise under Obamacare, patients want affordable, patient-friendly doctor’s offices where their private medical data is protected—and doctors want to offer this,” Brase continued. “Doctors using ‘Wedge Principles’ work for patients—not the government or a health plan. All patients are welcome. Affordability and privacy are paramount. Imagine a place where your doctor really knows you. Doctors and practices in The Wedge of Health Freedom—a free-trade zone for health care—are the way back to the future and a direct path to health freedom.”
The Wedge of Health Freedom identifies and brands a small but growing independent segment of the current health care landscape and communicates the benefits to patients so they can find doctors and practices that employ these attractive “Wedge Principles:”
- Transparent and affordable pricing
- Freedom of choice
- True patient privacy
- No government reporting
- No outside interference
- Cash-based pricing
- A protected patient-doctor relationship
“The Wedge is both a space of freedom and a innovative movement to restore health freedom nationwide,” Brase said. “In Wedge practices, patients and doctors will work together to meet the patient’s needs in confidentiality. Wedge practices aren’t trapped by bureaucratic contractual obligations with managed care corporations or costly government regulatory and reporting requirements. In The Wedge, the only contract a doctor has will be with the patient. Therefore, physicians and other practitioners can can serve their patients at an affordable price, providing each individual patient with sufficient time, a listening ear, and their professional advice and expertise.
“The Wedge of Health Freedom offers a patient-friendly, pocketbook-friendly and privacy-friendly alternative,” she added. “We will make this space of freedom visible to the American public, grow it through outreach and a grassroots movement, and work to protect it legally so health freedom can never be taken away from patients and doctors. Wedge-type practices already exist—and are working beautifully for many—but most people don’t know they exist. We will introduce and expand this affordable, patient-focused model of care everywhere. We encourage doctors and patients to join The Wedge and break free together.”
CCHF is a national patient-centered health freedom organization existing to protect health care choices, individualized patient care, and medical and genetic privacy rights. For more information about CCHF, visit its web site at www.cchfreedom.org, its Facebook page at www.facebook.com/cchfreedom or its Twitter feed, @CCHFreedom.
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