The City of Boston this week is rolling out a new programme that's whimsically known as "Prescribe-a-Bike." Part medicine, part welfare, the initiative allows doctors at Boston Medical Centre to write "prescriptions" for low-income patients to get yearlong memberships to Hubway, the city's bike-share system, for only $5.
These are not prescriptions in the legal sense. Rather, they are a kind of physician's letter, says Alan Meyers, a pediatrician at Boston Medical Centre.
"A clinician working with a patient or family could generate this form and then a hospital parking office which is right on the campus could enroll the person in the program," he explains. The hope is that signing low-income patients up for bike shares will help combat obesity, which disproportionately affects that community.
The $5 prescription rate Boston Medical Centre is offering is significantly cheaper than Hubway's $85 annual membership fee, and even beats the $6 24-hour-access pass often purchased by visitors. Boston has also waived credit qualifications for low-income patients, which have proved too much of a roadblock in the past, and is putting its own funds up to insure against potential losses or damages.
Perhaps the oddest thing about Prescribe-a-Bike is that it starts at the doctor's office, yet its aims and functions are not strictly medical. Any low-income patient is eligible to receive a $5 membership from a physician, so long as the person doesn't have a medical condition like a seizure disorder that could make biking dangerous. The programme's costs are being borne by the city, rather than any health insurance provider.
