What happens if you need health care, but don’t have health insurance? Typically, you either pay the entire bill all by yourself, or you put off having the treatment that you need. Some hospitals are accepting “time credits” instead of insurance payments. This is a barter system.
There is something innovative going on in Portland, Oregon. It is called The Portland Hour Exchange Program. The quickest way to explain it is to say that it works like a barter system. People do certain jobs, (like yard work), for someone else. The hours the person spends doing this work are called “time credits”. Those time credits can be exchanged for free services from any of the hundreds of people who are connected through this program.
People who do not have health insurance usually put off going to see a doctor, and getting the health care that they need. This is because most people cannot afford to pay the high medical bills that would come from receiving health care.
Untreated symptoms can quickly turn into something much more serious. This can endanger the life of the person who needs medical attention, and can turn into a much larger medical bill than would have been generated if the problem was taken care of earlier.
These people can directly benefit from working with The Portland Hour Exchange Program. The person who needs to be seen by a doctor can do use his or her skills to earn hours of time.
Perhaps the person can do yard work, or can knit scarves. Maybe the person is a former teacher who can help people’s children with their homework. Someone could provide transportation to a person who does not drive, but needs to run some errands.
Those hours get totaled up within the website. The person can then use the hours to “pay” for the services that they need. There are some hospitals and doctors who are connected through the program. This means that people can, essentially, use barter in order to “pay for” health care services.
I find this to be fascinating. It is a unique way to get around the “red tape”, and extra expenses, that are intrinsic to our current health care and health insurance system. The one potential problem with this program, however, is that it isn’t easy to find doctors who are willing to be “paid” in a non-traditional way.
Image by Earls37a on Flickr