Dr. Lazzopina has been a family doctor in Harlingen, Texas for 10 years. Located in deep south Texas, in one of the poorest counties in the country he has served thousands of people with a huge variety of medical needs. After graduating from Valley Baptist Family Practice Residency he was fortunate to teach family medicine residents at the same program to be compassionate, competent physicians for seven more years. During that time, he witnessed a drastic deterioration in the family physician’s ability to take care of their patients. Intrusive insurance companies, overbearing electronic medical records and ever-increasing charges made medicine increasingly inaccessible for people who fall through the cracks of the American healthcare system. He founded Frontier Direct Primary Care to offer top notch medical care to his community at a reasonable price.
Since opening in July 2018, Frontier has been growing rapidly. “To be perfectly honest, I have been a little surprised at how fast we have grown,” states Dr. Lazzopina. “Everyone said that our town was too poor and that too many people were reliant on government safety nets for our practice model to succeed. Frontier’s success proves that there is a demand for accessible, affordable healthcare and that people are willing to pay a reasonable price for excellent service.”
Dr. Lazzopina knows that the success of direct primary care in Harlingen may help give residents the confidence they need to succeed outside of the corrupt third-party payer system. “The corporate hospital systems and large insurance companies have colluded with the government to create a healthcare system with astronomically high prices so that consumers are forced to buy overpriced protection in the form of health insurance for fear of financial ruin due to health related bills.” Physicians have been increasingly uncomfortable with this arrangement but have been afraid to offer their services free of third-party payers for a long time. “Frontier’s success in what is considered one of the toughest locales for free market medicine will give residents the confidence to step out into their own direct primary care practices as they graduate.”
Dr. Lazzopina listed Frontier Direct Primary Care on the Wedge of Freedom website from opening day. “I’ve had several patients tell me they have found my practice looking for cash pay practices on the Wedge!” The power of free information is helping free market medicine grow from one end of our country to the other.