Is Direct Primary Care worth it? An honest comparison with traditional insurance.

DPC is a flat monthly membership that gives you direct access to your care team — unhurried visits and same-day or next-day appointments. No copays, no surprise bills, no insurance company between you and your care.

You still want insurance for hospital stays, surgeries, and specialists — but for the 80% of care that happens in primary care, DPC usually costs less and works better.

• Your doctor's panel is typically 2,000–3,000 patients to keep the lights on under insurance reimbursement.
• The average visit is 7–15 minutes — most of which is spent on documentation, not on you.
• You pay a monthly premium, a deductible, a copay, and often a coinsurance on top of all that.
• Prices for labs, imaging, and medications are opaque. The bill arrives weeks later.

• A flat monthly membership covers all primary care visits, including point-of-care tests and most in-office treatments.
• Panels are intentionally small, so appointments are unhurried and same- or next-day access is the norm.
• Direct access to the Canopy team during business hours when something comes up — no phone tree, no portal limbo. (We're not a 24/7 on-call service.)

Pair DPC with a lower-premium, high-deductible plan — often called a bronze plan — for catastrophic coverage. (True catastrophic plans are only available if you're under 30 or qualify for a hardship exemption.) Many families end up paying less overall.

DPC is usually worth it if you:

• Have a high-deductible plan and rarely "use" your insurance for primary care anyway.
• Manage one or more chronic conditions — diabetes, hypertension, thyroid, anxiety — that benefit from frequent, unhurried check-ins.
• Have kids and want a real pediatric relationship without a copay every time someone gets an ear infection.
• Run a small business and are looking for direct care for your staff without the cost of a full insurance plan.

It's less of a fit if your employer's plan already gives you near-zero out-of-pocket primary care and you don't value extra access or longer visits.

They sound similar, but the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) draws a clear line between the two models. Concierge practices typically charge a higher retainer and still bill your insurance (and often Medicare) for visits. DPC practices charge a flat, lower monthly fee that covers primary care and generally do not bill insurance at all — which is what keeps the pricing simple and the paperwork out of the exam room.

• Fee: concierge retainers are usually significantly higher than a DPC membership.
• Insurance billing: concierge practices bill third-party payers for care; DPC practices typically do not.
• What the fee covers: in DPC, the membership covers your primary care visits — there's no separate per-visit claim.

Source: AAFP — Direct Primary Care