GoldCare Review: How Healthcare Should Be

One of my banks, Old Glory Bank, recently offered me a free month trial of GoldCare. GoldCare is a healthcare service overseen by Dr. Simone Gold, one of the leaders of America’s Frontline Doctors. Dr. Gold and America’s Frontline Doctors were mistreated by the media during COVID when trying to treat COVID patients. In response to this, Dr. Gold’s goal with GoldCare is to provide a platform where patients can receive unbiased healthcare that works on behalf of the patient. After the free month trial, the service costs $10/month ($20/month for families) to access the system, then additional on-demand costs to book appointments with a healthcare provider or order medicine. I decided to give GoldCare a try so I could provide an honest review of it.

There were a couple of minor issues signing up (my free month trial with Old Glory Bank didn’t initially work), but GoldCare Member Services went above and beyond to ensure I was all set with my signup, even bringing in management to ensure I was taken care of. They’re also in the process of developing an iPhone app, but it’s not officially released yet (even though it’s on the App Store, the login backend isn’t fully active yet), so if you decide to sign up for GoldCare, use Safari on your iPhone at the moment until the official launch of the app.

Once I was in the system, my experience with accessing and using GoldCare went exceptionally smoothly. There are two major components to GoldCare. The first component is the healthcare provider telemedicine component. With GoldCare, you have access to a team of healthcare providers you can book through a telemedicine consultation for an extra fee. When booking an appointment, you purchase “tokens” in the amount of 15-minute segments (usually about $80-$100 for a “token” at the moment). You can either purchase “tokens” ahead of time and bank them for future use or purchase them on-demand when booking an appointment. Booking an appointment is simple. You choose the provider, choose the date/time/length of segment, pay the fee (or use your existing prepaid “tokens”), and you’re set. At the time of your appointment, you connect over a video call to meet with your provider.

Unfortunately, I had a situation where I was able to give GoldCare’s telemedicine a try. I recently fell (twice), with my first fall intense enough where I sprained myself up hard. I decided to book an appointment with GoldCare to consult with a specialist concerning my fall. Booking the appointment was simple, paying the fee was easy (GoldCare does not accept traditional insurance, but this incident would have cost me out of pocket anyway). I spent about 30 minutes with a specialist who was able to look over my injuries, ask me some questions, have me walk around my office, and provide me with some valuable information concerning recovering from my fall. He even gave me an email address if I needed to follow up, and he even emailed me to check in to see how I was doing recently. It went smoothly. No upsells, no pushing prescriptions I wouldn’t need, no “BS”. It’s how healthcare should be. I truly believe the specialist had my best interests at heart, helping me back on the road to recovery. My telemedicine session went exceptionally well, and even though GoldCare might cost slightly higher than some telemedicine sessions I’ve heard about through my insurance provider, the cost is worth it for the quality of healthcare and knowing I have a healthcare provider that is looking after my health, not in the interests of major corporations. If you need labs or imaging done, some GoldCare healthcare providers can refer you to a place to get it done (I didn’t need this done with my situation). If you need prescription medicine, some GoldCare healthcare providers can write a prescription (some of the specialists cannot), and you can either have your prescription shipped to you or pick it up from a local pharmacy (I also didn’t need this done with my situation). GoldCare also offers the ability to purchase med-packs of life-saving medicines, complete with a telemedicine session explaining how to use them. I haven’t done this yet, but it’s nice to know these are available if I ever need them (they offer med-packs for COVID/Bird Flu and one for general ailments).

The other component to GoldCare is the education component, as GoldCare is not only reactive to be there when you need to consult a medical professional, but they are also proactive to ensure they are teaching people how to live healthier lives. Most of this component is “Wellness U”, an ongoing library of videos, classes, and content on a variety of topics. I’ve already learned about Bird Flu, Measles, and Omega 3 from their library, and there are other videos I want to watch on environmental toxins. There are even faith classes led by Bishop Leon Benjamin that I have enjoyed, which have been weekly Bible studies I can listen to. There is also a community/forums section where I can ask questions or even share information with other GoldCare members. I asked a question about a vertigo treatment for my mother and received an answer quickly. I also shared some recent news articles I saw so I could discuss them with the GoldCare community. I’ve found the community to be another valuable component of GoldCare.

GoldCare also has teamed up with Zion HealthShare to offer a health sharing service (called GoldCare+) in the event anyone needs it. Right now, it seems my traditional Blue Cross health insurance plan is going to be cheaper than Zion HealthShare (although my Blue Cross plan went from being low-cost to having three price increases over a three-month period due to an executive order from Biden; with President Trump in office, I need to revisit Blue Cross to see if I can receive a lower rate again). In the event my Blue Cross plan ever becomes unaffordable, I will consider Zion HealthShare/GoldCare+ as an option, so I am keeping the lines of communication open with them for sure.

I can easily receive $10/month worth of educational content alone from GoldCare through its “Wellness U” component, and having all the additional components of GoldCare at my fingertips, knowing that I have a team of unbiased medical providers everywhere I go, a community I can ask questions to, access to life-saving medicine, and access to a health sharing service should I ever need to add it on, provides me with assurance with my healthcare. GoldCare is how healthcare should be. I highly recommend giving it a try.