The Burden of Getting Medical Care Can Exhaust Older Patients

I have a similar original Medicare and supp plan, no co-pays or bills and I pay a lot for it.
However, in my area, DC Metro, many docs have opted out of Medicare and make no bones about it. They won't take you on as patient unless you pay out of pocket.
There are many boutique practices and many excellent physicians are leaving medicine.
The area is horrendously over-populated and there are not enough docs to go around. Add that to the standard 10-15 minute appt they allow themselves to be with you and the concern for excellent care is not possible.
Wherever you are, glad you're getting great care and happy with your Medicare.

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I know what you mean!!!! I lived in Florida for ten years and many doctors were going "concierge". One has to "subscribe" and pay an annual fee to be part of their patient base. Fortunately, here in Minnesota I have not encountered the problem. But primary doctors belong to big organizations, and it takes months to get an appointment. Otherwise, they send you to Urgent Care. I have found my way around that. I self-refer to whatever specialist I need ...why ask my primary care doctor about something he/she has limited knowledge in?

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I recall 20 or more years ago, just after managed care was getting off the ground and health care was changing in a very negative way. I had nothing serious to see docs about, kept up with annual visits/procedures. Other than that, thankfully I did not visit docs much. I did begin noticing that they were rushed and their offices more overcrowded than usual. One ortho, who I was seeing for the first time for pain beneath the shoulder blade, basically slid out of the room after about 5 min, talking to me while in the doorway as I struggled like a fool to ask the few questions I had.
A couple of months after that, I read an article in the Washington Post Health section written by an internist in N Va, He went on and on about how docs had to overcome their anger and frustration with the health care system and remember why they were docs. He encouraged readers to take a list of questions and ask every last one to their satisfaction. I thought, "This guy is great. I wish docs would find a way to relax and take a little more time. What if I or one of my fam members has a serious illness? Is the doc going to throw me out like the ortho did?"
About a year later, I sat in the exam room with a highly respected endoc I had decided to see. I thought perhaps my lifelong anxiety was a result of a endocrine issue. She yakked and yakked and yakked about the evils of managed care and how she was starting an advocacy group of her peers to try and legally push back on HMO's, etc. How unfair it was to DOCS. Not a word about patients.
Of course, since that time, docs have changed greatly. I understand their complaints. I have watched, for example, my cardio change from a lovely, caring gentleman (20 + years ago) into a still OK person who is very smart and clinically could be among the best. However, with his patient load, far too heavy due to the demands of insurance and personal financial gain of the large cardio group he's with, he's not able to care for me the way he used to. It's very frightening. And all of my docs are like this.
They are doing what's best for THEM. The humanity is GONE.
This article inflamed me. It's even worse than the WAPO article from 2 yrs ago in that after 2 very scary stories that only make me wish there was a Kevorkian on every corner, she goes into the same "fixes" from the WAPO article of 25 years ago:
Ask your questions....(sure)
Request help with coordination from the dr's office (not gonna happen)
Get your meds reduced - I am ALL for that, but docs are going to be hard pressed to do this because meds usu
come from many other docs and *that* is complicated.
Etc, ad nauseum.
Things are only getting worse. I am tired of feeling like I have to kiss my docs' rings. They provide a service they chose. They accepted and signed an oath and damned few of any I know are fulfilling it. I try to be a "good" patient and they take advantage of it. The outspoken patients get the grease and the rest of us get the short straw.
More and more, if you haven't noticed, are opting out of Medicare. One doc told a friend of mine she could have the "Medicare" checkup or pay for a real one.
Do I have to use my savings for a boutique doc or is my plea for thousands of Kevorkians the only way? I won't spend the rest of this life feeling like my doc wishes I would just die because it's too much trouble to deal with an older person's issues.

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@gingerw - Thank you Ginger - could you expand on what a "Patient Navigator" is charged with doing for a patient?

I've seen them listed with their contact info at hospitals, doctors' offices, but wondered if they really can help, or can a patient actually get penalized (knowingly or unknowingly) for contacting them? Are they actually required to keep contacts from patients confidential?

Appreciate finding out more about this from your knowledge and position as a MCC Volunteer Mentor (and, as always, appreciate what you do here!)

I hope you are doing OK these days, too!

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@brandysparks From the National Cancer Institute, here is their definition of a patient navigator: https://www.cancer.gov/publications/dictionaries/cancer-terms/def/patient-navigator

I have used a patient navigator before, and am not aware of being penalized for doing so. But you just gave me an "uh-oh!" moment, to be sure!! Frankly, it is so hard for an individual to be up-to-speed on how to muddle through all the hurdles we face when we have health concerns, knowing the correct procedures or the right steps to take to get things done. I have found having someone to help me through the forms/paperwork/steps can be a blessing. And once when I had to contact such a person because I felt I was getting nowhere with a situation, things were resolved very quickly!

It seems things are constantly changing in the medical care community, and being able to access someone on the inside to help us, is invaluable. Besides being called a patient navigator, some organizations may instead use the title social worker, or patient advocate.
Ginger

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I do the same. My primary care always tells me, "Oh that's not in my knowledge base, you need a specialist." So I just skip her now and go to her for pill refills and blood work and whatever silly exams they say I need for Medicare. I am truly thinking about a concierge doc but I'll be checking them inside and out before I go. Just because they're boutique doesn't mean they're good. Best of luck to you. Sounds like pretty much the same story from sea to shining sea. Take care.

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Thanks and good luck to you too.
I value the honesty of my primary care doctor when he says he doesn't know. I use him to review certain test results since Specialists frequently don't tell you about other things found in tests like CT scans when it is outside their own area. And having several specialists, I am trying now to organize my blood work schedule to be sure nothing falls through the cracks.
One really has to take responsibility ...on several occasions I have been given drugs that impact other drugs...not the nurse not the pharmacy said a word ...but I always check the interaction between drugs

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Hi, Christine. Yep, the ride up and down the Malahat 'pass' is interesting. I don't know when you drove it last, but they must have spent $50M on it in the past five years adding lanes to keep the accidents down. Then, two falls ago when the Atmospheric River hit and practically wiped out the lower mainland, there were two huge washouts of the newly completed work...another $2M to repair. Hopefully re-engineered as well...

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