Dammit. I have been going to the local healthcare clinic, but I am increasingly disenchanted with them (they tried to kill me this week with Cipro, and seemed highly disinterested at my near-demise). So I look in my company’s putative “healthcare book” to see who in my area takes the CrapolaCare Health Plan. I see four doctors in my town, all of whom are fluent in Urdu (why does this fail to reassure me?). All of their phone numbers have since been disconnected. I look for doctors in Nearbytown, NJ. I find ONE. She has moved to Farawayville.
Maybe I should get a doc in Manhattan? There seem to be plenty of them (I like the sound of Dr. Goldstein on Park Avenue—I mean, he’s GOT to be good!). But if I’m too sick to get into NYC to go to work, I’m too sick to come in to see a doctor . . . All I want is an old-fashioned G.P.! How the bloody hell do you FIND a decent doctor, and one that takes CrapolaCare Health Plan? Did any of YOU have any luck? I’m ready to call Granny Clampett—at least her med’cines usually worked.
I feel your pain, so to speak. In this area, the decent doctors aren’t taking new patients, and anyone taking patients generally can’t be bothered to pay attention to appointment times. My doctor gives me attitude, as do the others she shares the practice with, but their PAs are pretty good. I liked my GP in Virginia, even if he was slightly younger than Doogie Howser.
I’m ready to start shopping around again… before I need a doctor. At least I have a good dentist.
I hope I never need one, but it’s nice to know they are there…
I use Mega-Care, and we have been very fortunate so far in getting good care. You get a regular Doctor, but you can’t ever call and speak to him/her - that bugs the crap out of me, 'cause if I have a quick question I don’t want to set aside half of the day to come in for an appointment. I can leave a message, but it’s always the assitant that calls back, and always when I’m not at my desk, so we play phone tag…
I can tell you that it’s much better to simply stay healthy.
It’s really really hard. I was very lucky and got into a great practice when they added a new doctor. I don’t live far from you, Eve. Email me if you want the info.
Same shit, different pile. We in Alberta are STRONGLY URGED to get ourselves family doctors. I don’t know why - no one’s ever told me. There is a doctor shortage, I suspect, because there are no doctors taking new patients in Calgary, and when you do manage to get a family doctor (through someone dying, I guess), you wait a couple of weeks for every appointment, and when you finally get to see the doctor, you wait for at least an hour after your appointed time before you are allowed into the hallowed Holy-of-Holies to talk to the doctor for the 90 seconds it takes to get your prescription refilled. God forbid you should get sick at an inconvenient time, and not have the two to three weeks it takes to get in to see the doctor. Then you can go to the emergency room and wait for 6 hours while your appendix decides if its gonna blow or not. I would like to say “at least it’s free”, but with a 30% taxation rate on income in Canada, that’s kinda out the door, too. And user fees looming in the near future. I guess my point is, healthcare sucks all around. Is there a country anywhere that has figured it out properly?
Eve, the last person you want to go to is Dr Goldstein. Think about it. Doctors would prefer to collect mega-fees from rich patients, so any doctor willing to accept patients from CrapolaCare must be desperate for business. Now ask yourself why a nice Jewish doctor in Manhattan would have a hard time getting (or keeping) patients. The answer sounds like “quack”.
Find yourself a doctor with a name like Alijareeshuban or Huang or Mbenga, and you can at least hope that they’re a competent doctor who can’t find patients because of cultural bias.