The first Telehealth program that can act as a Primary Care Physician
By Abigail Trabue
One of the biggest challenges for those that travel a lot, whether in an RV or not, is figuring out how to handle doctors’ appointments and other aspects of healthcare on the road. Managing chronic health issues or dealing with new ones when you are far away from your primary care physician can keep many people from traveling as much or as far as they’d like, and it’s a major barrier to full-time RV travel.
RV Health is a new company that aims to solve these issues for RVers. It’s a program that allows you to visit medical professionals through a virtual clinic anywhere in the world. It’s not a health insurance plan, but it provides network access to healthcare solutions including prescriptions, vision care, dental, hearing, labs and patient advocacy. For $24 a month (includes a whole family), regular doctors’ appointments will all be covered.
Telehealth programs are nothing new, and some health insurance providers offer them, but RV health bills itself as the first of its kind that can act as a primary care physician, and the first to provide remote access to a specialist and specialist referrals. RV health doctors can write prescriptions that you can fill at pharmacies anywhere for most medications.
One limitation of the program is access to DEA controlled drugs, or drugs that have the potential to be abused like antidepressants, and non-therapeutic drugs such as Viagra and Cialis are not prescribed by RV Health doctors. Emergency care is not what RV Health is for, either. It’s going to help you manage common conditions like sinus problems, respiratory infections, allergies, urinary tract infections, cold and flu symptoms and other non-emergency illnesses. You’ll still need health insurance to cover the big stuff.
RV Health says they can connect you with on-call doctors 24/7 in every state, with no limitation on usage and no additional consultation fees for speaking with a primary care or internal medicine physicians.
If you don’t have insurance, RV Health can help bridge the gap. The prescription savings program they offer averages over a 60% discount from out-of-pocket cost. If you do have insurance, they say the savings is sometimes better than your co-pay. They also provide you access to a program called Medical Bill Saver, which acts like an insurance company would, negotiating hospital and other healthcare bills on your behalf.
RV Health also offers dental, vision, and hearing care discounts, as well as electronic health records, allowing you to access and share your health information wherever and whenever you want.
We chatted with RV Health’s Scott Blair on the RV Miles podcast in episode 21, and he is offering the first month for $1 for RV Miles readers, no commitment required. Visit rvhealth.com/rvmiles for more info or to sign up.
