Under 50yo and go to the doctor about once every three yrs but as expected is getting more often as I age. Currently need to go in and scheduled an appointment and was told at that time it would be 4-6 weeks because I am not considered a regular patient. Was also told that I could go to a walk in but because of what I have going on, they are just going to refer me so not really a worthwhile deal and if it got too bad to go to the emergency. Don't ever remember waiting this long before and tried adjacent towns with same result. Low population state and beginning to wonder if I want to age here with this kind of health care. DW has to schedule womanly stuff over a yr out also. I don't want to become a regular patient and only have plans of going in when absolutely needed but would like to get in in a timely manner. Anyone else experiencing this? Anyone find any other options or ideas? Just looking to what I might be able to do in the future.
We don't have that problem here to the same extent that you do.
Last summer in the space of less than 2 months I not only got an appointment to see the best opthalmologist/surgeon around, but also got scheduled for my surgery to be done and had it done. So, two months after the day I called for my initial appointment to see why I couldn't see well, I was cataract free. This was on Medicare combined with my federal BCBS.
When I need my dental implants done (working on #2 right now), my dentist gets me in with his oral surgeon friend in less than 24 hours. But of course, due to the nature of the procedure it takes more than half a year, so that the bone can grow and strengthen.
On the other hand, although I'm not enthused with my internist I am reluctant to look for another. I suspect that internists and primary care physicians may be hard to come by, especially for those on Medicare. But I don't KNOW that. Maybe I'm just dragging my feet.
So many doctors, like other people, left New Orleans right after Katrina. While some other people had to come back for their jobs, some of the doctors could afford to live elsewhere and did. So at least for a while, we had a bad shortage of doctors. I'm not sure if that is still the case or not.