As millions of Americans face record insurance premium increases and expiring subsidies, a new direct-to-consumer telehealth service aims to provide an alternative: unlimited primary and urgent care visits for $10 per visit, no insurance required. TenDollarTelehealth, launching January 12, 2026, will initially serve 100 million residents across California, Florida, Georgia, and Texas, with nationwide expansion planned later in the year. The service was created by Dr. Renee Dua, founder of Heal, the telehealth and house-call platform that received a $100 million investment from Humana in 2020. The first 10,000 members will lock in $10-per-year memberships and $10-per-visit pricing for life, with enrollment now open at TenDollarTelehealth.com.
Crisis Context: When Premium Subsidies Expire
Dr. Renee Dua, Founder, TenDollarTelehealth
The timing addresses a looming affordability crisis. When enhanced ACA premium subsidies expire on December 31, 2025, enrollees will face dramatic cost increases. According to the company, citing the Kaiser Family Foundation, ACA premiums could rise an average of 114%, amounting to $1,000 annually for the typical family. The subsidy expiration would hit older Americans particularly hard. According to KFF analysis, a 60-year-old couple earning $85,000 would see yearly premium payments rise by over $22,600 in 2026, bringing coverage costs to nearly a quarter of their annual income. Meanwhile, employer-sponsored coverage continues its own cost trajectory. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 50% of private industry workers participated in high-deductible health plans in 2024, with median annual deductibles of $2,750. The press release notes that 27% of workers face deductibles exceeding $3,000 in out-of-pocket costs. A survey commissioned by TenDollarTelehealth of 1,000 Americans ages 25-55 with a median income of $75,000 found that 56% already spend more than $1,500 out-of-pocket annually on healthcare, according to the company, forcing many to skip or delay care. “No one should ever put off healthcare because of costs,” said Dr. Dua in the press release. “Every American should have access to affordable care when they need it most, without surprises, deductibles, copays or high costs.”
“No one should ever put off healthcare because of costs. Every American should have access to affordable care when they need it most, without surprises, deductibles, copays or high costs.” — Dr. Renee Dua, Founder, TenDollarTelehealth
The Service Model: Radical Price Transparency
TenDollarTelehealth offers a straightforward structure: a $10 annual membership fee, then $10 per video visit with board-certified, state-licensed providers including physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants. Appointments are available 12 hours daily, 365 days per year, in English or Spanish, accessible via any phone, tablet, or computer. The service covers typical primary and urgent care needs including everyday illnesses (colds, flu, COVID-19, sinus infections), chronic condition management (diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, asthma), urgent needs (UTIs, skin rashes, allergies, minor injuries), and mental health support (anxiety, depression, stress management). “We’re not upselling expensive supplements or promoting expensive add-ons,” Dr. Dua stated in the release. “Our purpose is to offer quality care at the lowest possible price to patients of all ages.” The initial four-state rollout targets regions with significant coverage gaps. According to the company, Texas leads the nation with 16.7% uninsured (over 5 million residents), while Florida has 10.9% uninsured and Georgia 12% uninsured. California, despite lower uninsured rates, faces 2.8 million currently uninsured residents, with 1.7 million more expected to lose coverage if subsidies expire.
Competitive Context in Low-Cost Telehealth
TenDollarTelehealth enters a crowded but stratified direct-to-consumer telehealth market where pricing varies significantly. GoodRx Care currently offers visits starting at $49, positioning itself among the lowest-cost options for uninsured patients. Teladoc Health charges $89 per visit for general medical care without insurance, while MDLive ranges from $82 to $284 depending on service type. Amazon One Medical provides $49 telehealth urgent care visits without membership, or $199 annually for combined telehealth and in-person access ($99 for Prime members). The average cost for basic urgent care across major telehealth providers currently ranges from $40 to $90 per visit, according to industry data. TenDollarTelehealth’s $10 price point represents a significant departure from these established models. Whether the company can maintain this pricing while ensuring quality care, adequate provider compensation, and financial sustainability remains an open question. The service does not accept insurance, eliminating administrative overhead but also removing a revenue stream that subsidizes many competitors’ operations.
Provider Value Proposition
The platform also addresses provider burnout, a persistent industry concern. The release notes that physicians and nurse practitioners face overwhelming administrative tasks that detract from patient care. “TenDollarTelehealth lets providers focus on what matters: patients,” according to Dr. Dua in the press release. “They can work from home, deliver real care and still have time for their own families.” The provider compensation model and how it sustains $10 patient visits while offering competitive pay was not detailed in the announcement.
Dr. Dua’s Track Record
Dr. Dua brings significant telehealth experience to the venture. She co-founded Heal in 2014 with her husband Nick Desai after spending seven hours in an emergency room with their feverish one-year-old. Heal pioneered on-demand house calls combined with telehealth, eventually serving six states and receiving Humana’s $100 million investment in 2020. A board-certified nephrologist and internist, Dr. Dua previously served as Chief of Medicine at Valley Presbyterian and Simi Valley Hospitals in California. She completed her medical degree at Chicago Medical School/Rosalind Franklin University, residency at UCLA, and nephrology fellowship at USC. Beyond Heal, Dr. Dua founded HeyRenee in 2021, a healthcare coordination app that raised $3.8 million in seed funding, and more recently launched Together by Renee, an AI-powered healthcare assistant app focused on aging adults and caregivers.
Execution Challenges and Open Questions
Several critical questions surround the launch. The $10 price point must support provider compensation, technology infrastructure, customer support, and regulatory compliance across multiple states—all without insurance reimbursement. The announcement did not detail the unit economics that make this pricing sustainable. Quality assurance mechanisms also remain unclear. How the service will credential providers, monitor care quality, handle medical errors, and manage patient safety across four states was not addressed in the launch materials. State licensing requirements and telehealth regulations vary significantly, particularly for mental health services and controlled substance prescriptions. The limited 12-hour daily availability (rather than 24/7) may also prove constraining for urgent care needs outside operating hours, potentially forcing patients to emergency rooms—the very outcome the service aims to prevent. Scalability represents another challenge. The first 10,000 members lock in lifetime pricing, but the announcement did not specify capacity limits, wait times, or how quickly the service can onboard additional providers to meet demand if enrollment surges.
Backing and Mission
TenDollarTelehealth was created by Heddle Health, Inc., a startup funded by 1842 Fund, a mission-driven venture fund and studio collaboration between the University of Notre Dame and Alloy Partners. The fund focuses on making healthcare more accessible and affordable. The service provides bilingual care (English and Spanish) with same-day or next-day appointments and direct-to-home prescription delivery. According to the company, it operates via browser, mobile, or phone with no downloads, no waiting rooms, and no surprise bills. “We’re building something revolutionary,” Dr. Dua stated. “Healthcare that’s simple, transparent and accessible to everyone, exactly as it should be.”
Market Timing and Political Uncertainty
The January 2026 launch coincides with the ACA subsidy cliff and ongoing political debates about healthcare coverage. Congress faces pressure to extend the enhanced subsidies, but partisan gridlock has complicated resolution. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that if enhanced subsidies expire, 2.2 million Americans will lose health coverage in 2026, with enrollment dropping from 22.8 million to 18.9 million. This uncertainty may drive consumer interest in insurance-independent alternatives like TenDollarTelehealth. However, the service cannot replace comprehensive insurance for hospitalizations, surgeries, specialist care, or expensive medications—coverage gaps that could leave members vulnerable to catastrophic costs. The four-state initial rollout targets politically and demographically diverse markets. Texas and Florida have not expanded Medicaid under the ACA, leaving larger coverage gaps. Georgia partially expanded Medicaid in 2023. California fully expanded and maintains its own state-based marketplace. This geographic diversity provides TenDollarTelehealth with varied market conditions to test its model.
Patient Impact: Access Versus Comprehensive Care
For patients, TenDollarTelehealth offers clear value for routine primary and urgent care needs: predictable costs, no insurance navigation, rapid access, and elimination of surprise bills. The $10 annual fee plus $10 per visit could benefit healthy individuals who rarely need care, uninsured workers, and those with high-deductible plans facing significant out-of-pocket costs before coverage begins. However, the service addresses only a slice of healthcare needs. It cannot provide emergency care, surgical interventions, advanced diagnostics, specialty consultations, or ongoing chronic disease management requiring frequent in-person assessment. Patients will still need insurance or significant savings to protect against serious illness or injury. The mental health component also bears scrutiny. While the service covers anxiety, depression, and stress management, effective mental health treatment often requires continuity of care, longer appointment times, and in some cases, controlled substance prescriptions—all challenging to deliver at $10 per visit. Whether TenDollarTelehealth represents a sustainable business model or a temporary market entry strategy remains to be seen. If successful at scale, it could pressure competitors to reduce pricing and force a broader industry reckoning with telehealth economics. If the model proves unsustainable, early adopters with locked-in lifetime pricing may find themselves seeking alternatives when the service eventually adjusts its approach. The company’s success will depend on execution across multiple dimensions: provider recruitment and retention, technology reliability, clinical quality, regulatory compliance, and most critically, whether $10 per visit can sustain operations while delivering the quality care that patients deserve.
– This original article was created with AI support.
