The Good Old Days

How do I define “the good old days”? From a medical perspective, it was the time when I had one doctor and went years without paying him a visit. As my age has increased, so has the number of health care providers. With our recent move, I’ve also been reminded that it has gotten harder to find them.

Medicare has an online site to help find a doctor. It tells if a doctor is accepting new patients and if they limit their fees to the Medicare guidelines. The site is not particularly user friendly. It requires opening a lot of pages to get information and could use more filters to limit the search results. I stick to it, because a physician, who doesn’t accept the guidelines, could cost me money that I just don’t have. Armed with a list of potential doctors, I start making calls.

“What is your health insurance?” Is invariably the first question that I’m asked when I call the doctor’s office. “Medicare.” There is a moment of dead silence. “That’s your secondary insurance?” a hopeful voice asks. After learning that it is my only insurance, the call quickly ends. I move down the list of providers, repeating the scenario. Eventually, I do find a physician, but through someone else’s referral, not the Medicare list.

There are reportedly 49 million people in the United States, who don’t have any health insurance. What do they do?