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Finding a Doctor

TL DRTL DR Not at all confident in his reflexive opinions of thingsRegistered User regular
in Help / Advice Forum
Hello! I recently *cough six months ago* obtained proper health insurance and furthermore my company's health and wellness program includes some incentives for dragging my creaking and broken shell of a body in for a physical twice a year.

Thing is, I've never gone to a doctor other then when I was sick as a kid or to go to the ER. How do I find a GP? Is it like when I needed an updated prescription for new glasses and I just found an optometrist with decent reviews and ended up enduring a totally unprompted and factually incorrect rant about Obamacare? Is there a good review site to cross-reference?

Thanks for any and all insight!

Posts

  • RayzeRayze Registered User regular
    You can find a gp through your insurance's website. They should have a list of doctors in your area. You can also ask friends/family/co-workers who they use

    There's no guarantee the first doctor you see will be right for you but it's part of the process

  • CreaganCreagan Registered User regular
    You want to shop around for a doctor. Look up all the GPs in your area and make a list of everybody who will take your insurance. Talk to your friends and family who live nearby about who they see, and ask them what those doctors are like. Look at where the doctors went to school, the history of their practice, etc.

    Then decide which one with good credentials who you think you'd be able to communicate best with. If you don't like that person, see a different doctor for your next check-up.

    rationalnonsense.com
  • PantshandshakePantshandshake Registered User regular
    Back when I had a job with a large company, the insurance website was handled by a third party. They had a really useful tool that would search an area and give you back a list of whatever healthcare you needed that would also take your insurance.

    So, look for one of those?

    Also, yes, shop around. The first time I had a new GP, I had a t-shirt on with some kind of pirate joke. After a few exams, he went over to his computer and "Hmmmm.... Mmmhmmm...'d" a lot. Then he printed around 15 sheets of paper. I was terrified. Turns out, he printed me a catalog of a pirate themed vacation at some island that he had been on. The vacation packages started at 15 or 20 grand. I was speechless.

  • PantshandshakePantshandshake Registered User regular
    Back when I had a job with a large company, the insurance website was handled by a third party. They had a really useful tool that would search an area and give you back a list of whatever healthcare you needed that would also take your insurance.

    So, look for one of those?

    Also, yes, shop around. The first time I had a new GP, I had a t-shirt on with some kind of pirate joke. After a few exams, he went over to his computer and "Hmmmm.... Mmmhmmm...'d" a lot. Then he printed around 15 sheets of paper. I was terrified. Turns out, he printed me a catalog of a pirate themed vacation at some island that he had been on. The vacation packages started at 15 or 20 grand. I was speechless.

  • EncEnc A Fool with Compassion Pronouns: He, Him, HisRegistered User regular
    You also want to make sure you can actually see your GP with reasonable frequency. My old GP was a great family doctor I was literally raised with, and he was amazing. But about 6 or 7 years ago his practice started getting so overtaxed with patients it would be a month before you could see him (which with most medical problems you need a GP for isn't very practical). When you ask about make sure you ask the time it takes to see your doctor, including the general staff when you sign up.

  • ThundyrkatzThundyrkatz Registered User regular
    I just did this actually...

    Check with your insurance! If you have an HMO then you will probably have to designate the doctor as your primary care physician before you go to the first appointment.

    otherwise it will be billed to you as out of network.

    Almost no adult doctors do a "meet and greet" (some pediatricians do a meet and greet). Either you're a patient or your not. However if you go to the meeting and you don't mesh well you just start the process over again with a new doctor, re-designate the new doctor as your PCP and go to the first appointment.

    Hopefully this process doesn't take more then a couple tries as it can get pretty frustrating.

  • CelestialBadgerCelestialBadger Registered User regular
    The physical functions as a "meet and greet."

    The Empire BCBS list of doctors is a joke. They never remove doctors so when I was looking for a PCP the nearest doctor they listed turned out to be dead, and the next nearest, retired. All the others were doctors who are affiliated with a local hospital but don't practice in the area. The doctor I went with I found by walking around the area to see who had the nicest offices and took my insurance. God knows if he is competent or not.

  • TL DRTL DR Not at all confident in his reflexive opinions of thingsRegistered User regular
    Thanks for the feedback!

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