The Medical Freedom Channel

“Margie Derryberry has been a patient of Dr. John Chauvin for 15 years. But that’s about to change because Derryberry can’t afford to pay a new $1,500 annual fee that Chauvin plans to charge patients on top of the cost of their insurance. The fee is part of Chauvin’s bid to trim his patient rolls to about 600 people — down from 2,500 — so he can spend more time with each one and offer what he sees as extra preventive care. But for Derryberry, 71, of Robertson County — and for other middle-income patients — the hefty fee raises questions about equal access to medical care at a time when some national studies say 40 percent of U.S. adults are already uninsured or under-insured.” (07/21/08)