Forward's 'body scanner' thing and 23andMe results interpretation are both embarrassing farces, imo. The former much more so than the latter, but even the docs will admit that their use of genetics information is basically a dog and pony show that rarely if ever impacts how they approach care.
I've given up and joined a concierge medical practice attached to a local hospital instead. It's only ~25% more expensive than Forward.
For me Forward has primarily been an anxiety thing. I have really bad anxiety largely around health issues. (Real or not) and I have found that since being with Forward that at least the idea that I can talk to someone at any point helps with that anxiety. I do recognize that a lot of that is placebo, but being able to help with anxiety without medication is preferred to me.
That being said, they are only just now opening up in Boston so it will remain to be seen how they actually perform in person and not virtual. But their competition here is... its a low bar to be better.
Forward outsources a lot of their clinical stuff, so the service ends up being much less premium
But it's also a matter of perspective. As someone that is privileged enough to shop for improved healthcare quality and access, I've jumped from an old-school cash-basis solo practitioner, to One Medical, to Forward, to about the highest end concierge practice available in my metro region. Every time I've increased my spending, the quality of care and accessibility has generally increased. One Medical and Forward were still improvements over what I'd had access to previously even though I chose to move on and pay more money elsewhere for an improved experience.
Forward was expanding to my city and I joined based on SF friend’s recommendation. They charged me a total of $500 without ever actually opening the office.
When I requested a refund they said they could only give one month, then took so long to process that I got another monthly charge in the meantime! I had to follow up weekly for months just to get back to the original promise.
Bad, bad experience, and I’m not even medically complex.
> boutique experience
Man, Americans say the weirdest $h@t
I expect the same to happen (or already happening) in the UK.
Think of all the money that is wasted in todays system. Its not a lack of money,its how its badly spent and all the red tape in between. Much more efficient to let individuals manage it than a burocracy based on forced taxation which leads to a lack of accountability as poor performance still gets funding.