Ask HN: Almost a thousand dollars for a 20 minute new patient visit?

I live in the Bay Area and have a high-deductible health plan. Recently, my primary care doctor left UCSF to become a concierge physician — tired of the bureaucracy and low pay despite managing thousands of patients annually.

I booked a new-patient visit with a UCSF physician. The appointment lasted about 20 minutes. A few weeks later, I got the bill: $867. I assumed it was a mistake, but after calling, I learned this was the correct charge for CPT code 99204 (new patient visit, 45–59 minutes). Insurance won’t cover it due to my deductible.

This feels absurd. I get that healthcare is broken, especially in tech-heavy cities like SF, but $867 for a routine visit is hard to justify.

Is anyone working on viable alternatives? Concierge models? Subscription care? Could this be a startup opportunity or is regulation the only fix? Curious how others are navigating this and whether there's a scalable path forward.