How often does your family doc want to see you?

I'm seen about every 3-4 weeks, doc only. no practitioners, nurses, med students, or PAs.

Never. I make appointments as need be. She never asks to see me.

Neuro supposed to be every 6 months, but usually nearer 8 or 9.
In any case waste of time...

P

I see my Family Dr. as needed for whatever...I call if I need them. Once a year for mammo and HRT refill is the only schedule I'm on.

I see my neuro once a month.

Anna's doctor wants to see her every two weeks. When things get complicated (because of surgery or such), it is weekly.

Cheryl

I see my ob/gyn annually. My GP only when I decide when to see him.

I see my GP about once a year, more often when something needs attention. I see the neuro eveythong three months or so.

i could bore you guys to death and scribe out a managerial structure to my care (snore). the family doc acts more of a chief operating officer. since i have a lot of other physicians that oversee my problems, it's very hard to keep everyone in the loop. most docs do not communicate with other docs and we've found the most effective way is that i meet up with my family doc.

my body throws wrenches and needs periodic med adjustments or even procedures to check out what's going on. new test results that come in need to be incorporated into further treatment & testing. i ask my docs for copies to make sure that i can have them both for my own records, and to make sure they get to my family doc.

when it comes to migraines, since i think we know what works and what doesn't, family doc handles the bulk. i see the migraine neuro maybe 1x a year. the family doc and i have a very good working relationship with a high level of trust.

i actually the largest payoff for gradschool for me has been using these tools to manage my way through this life-long process.

we have some control of the migraine--and it is part of my overall vascular problem. without treating the other stuff, there's no way to treat the migraine. as all of us have found out, there are many different reasons why a person can have migraines and it's hit or miss....many, many, times.

Very good, Marc.

Anna's G.P. prescribes for her, and that is why she sees him so often. He needs to monitor it all, plus he greatly helps keep both of us sane through all of this...

Cheryl

I go every 2-3 months because of the complications and ongoing treatment for Lyme. Did you have your shoulder surgery?
Cindy

Shoulder surgery is still based on when appropriate.....(especially, LOL, when cars are polished).

Saw the ortho surgeon.

He is ready, but wants me to see an neurosurgeon first regarding my neck.

Cardiac clearance is still need by my my cardiologist before hand.

Need to get the opinion of neuromuscular doc before surgery.

At earliest, probably November. We'll see....lots of stuff going on with my health. Still have doctor selection before going under zee knife.

Never. The idea of a GP asking to see me is an odd thought. I doubt if she'd recognize me on the street. I go to the doc when I feel I need to, which isn't very often. Sadly, it's a matter of money. I should probably be getting tests for more things. I probably will die sooner than I would if I had more money. Such is often the case with poorer people.

I have a job with medical insurance but I can't even keep up with my co-pays that I do have. I have collection agencies calling me all day long. The hospital, in particular, wants all their money and right now. My credit is already ruined so that's not even a issue right now. My insurance company paid a hefty chunk of the bill, but that's not enough for the hospital. The costs are so outrageous.

Anyway, no, my doctor doesn't ask to see me.

Marc, you have so many health issues. I understand why you have to keep on top of it with an entire health team.

Chris

Argh, Chris.....that's one rough situation.

I really feel for you--I don't want to insult you and say I feel sorry. I do feel sorry that you don't have better access.

I think I've had enough tests at this point that it may be reversing lifespan. I've had some significant doses of radiation from all the catheterizations and CTs that's really drawing in how much more can my body have?

The team of docs expands and shrinks as needed. I will admit, my health has eaten significant resources of our own. The blasted 48% jump in premium this year (self employed ='s me paying) felt like a punch to the gut.

The family doc and I work together very closely. I do the work that he most likely doesn't have a ton of time for. The office staff is helpful...I think they do know that if a patient is in every 4-6 weeks indefinitely that the patient probably isn't doing that great.

The treatment for each problem is laid out by the specialists...no real need to see them more than 1-2x a year at most.

What has popped up since this last EMG study is not positive. It brings back some neuromuscular problems that we though we had solved a couple years ago. What the heck are you going to do.

Best as always,
mgb

Marc, I'm sorry about your rate increase. We were shocked our premium only went up $100 per month. Absolutely shocked. It has been far worse other years (like three times that). What a hit you are taking. We have the same provider, but you are on a different plan, I think.

Cheryl

Cheryl,

What happened in my state is that one of the blues (the blues have an absolute monopoly on health insurance here) decided to open a "for profit" health insurance subsidiary. Essentially it migrates over 60,000 people into a new company that can medically underwrite their lives and charge to cover xyz. There's some interesting actuarial work that goes into this. Boils down to the blues won't lose money. Some people had 6-8%, others got up to 104%.

It's been highly protested, and suits are being persued. The blues wanted to drop their name of the card, but that got shot down by the state insurance comission. But, they have me--I have little choice but to pay. What a person could do, is migrate to a guaranteed issue plan under their non-profit side, which is actually more expensive than what I have now, but it has no where near the benefits that I have.

Trim here and there. I only had a 6% last year. Guess they made it up this time! I have to admit, the blues here do get a huge pool of bad risk--a ton of sick people that cost money. From a business perspective, I understand why they did it. A lot of what has happend was done ahead of health care reform.

Two years ago our insurance for my staff went up 33%. It was tough for a non-profit that didn't have it in the budget.

Last year we budgeted for another big increase and we considered ourselves "lucky" that it only went up 12%.

I'm still not sure where I stand on healthcare reform. The reform is SO necessary, so many uninsured or underinsured, yet I'm scared from a selfish standpoint as I get very good medical care at no cost between my and hubbies employment. I know I am very fortunate to have the coverage that I have and wish there was more equality.

healthcare has become such a difficult and cumbersome issue that it's like slashing at godzilla with a flyswatter.

i'm concerned about these changes, since the devil is in the details. as i get older and problems worsen, there's the necessity to generate revenue to be able to afford the insurance. that will be a challenge.

we'll see. i'm on a cancellation list to get in to see a doc just to explain a test result and to go over some other problems.....the closest appt. date that i made 2 weeks ago was the 2nd week in december. i will punctuate this...this is another superdoc that has a specific skill-set. each problem that pops up makes planning difficult--so you are living life at 1-6 month brackets of time.

frustrating.