from Hacker News

87 year old Illinois doctor charges just $5 a visit

by sheckel on 8/20/12, 4:21 PM with 6 comments

• by khet on 8/20/12, 6:05 PM

  What I love about this is not the price tag. Yes 5$ is insanely cheap but its the clarity in pricing which is brilliant.

  I would imagine a lot of people are afraid to get a checkup or even inquire about the cost because it might be too expensive. Rational or irrational, this fear can creep up on your health.

  This doctor made it simple to get a checkup done. I hope more medical establishments follow in his footsteps.

• by joshniederer on 8/20/12, 9:12 PM

  I got a couple of school physicals from this doctor in the past. He's a great guy. As you'd expect, the office was extremely busy both times I went there. His practice is providing a meaningful service to everyone who wishes to take advantage of it.

  The way he chooses to help people long after he was eligible to retire is something truly commendable.

• by rootedbox on 8/20/12, 9:06 PM

  While 5 bucks is nice.. You need a culture check to see if a patient needs antibiotics(most sore throats are viral). I'm guessing, because it is only a 5 dollar visit he doesn't do that test.

  This causes 2 issues. 1. The patient receives drugs for which will do him nothing. 2. Allows for antibiotic resistance to be breed into microorganisms.

• by virjog on 8/20/12, 5:01 PM

  So, it took BBC 30 years to make a news story on this guy just because it was relevant to today's issues?