On not currently having a primary care doctor
“Whatever choice I make feels scary. I have no real way of making a ‘good’ choice; I have a lot of ways of making a bad choice,” writes author Libby Watson, describing decision making in the American health care system. I, too, have seen how health decisions have been struggles to make the best choice in situations full of bad options. I visited my grandfather in India during his Leukemia treatment, listened to emergency breast cancer treatment options for my grandmother, and evaluated decisions with my father as he weighed options for a bone marrow transplant. Motivated by my own experiences, I have sought to research the difficulties patients face in the byzantine health care system and ideate policy action to address those challenges.
I research health care every single day, with one goal in mind. I’d like to make health care more intuitive for people. Even then, while working overtime, after researching all of the nuances of our health care system, I do not have a primary care physician. I want to make excuses, like the fact I’ve moved cities, recently turned 26, and therefore had to change health insurance. But there are always excuses; this is a confusing task that can easily keep falling to the bottom of the to-do list. Whenever I try to make the decision about my next primary care physician, I end up wondering: what if I don’t find the perfect fit? No decision—and putting it off—feels like a better decision than making the wrong decision.
A very telling opening from First Aid Kit says:
“A few experts have weighed in with personal updates on topics we’ve covered here recently: Buying drugs, finding free COVID tests and picking insurance.
And they find all of this just as hard as the rest of us.”
Hopefully, it’s of some solace that we’re not alone.
Below are some good reads and listens about decision making in the health care system, and the difficulties that people all over the U.S. face.
Readings and Resources:
WTF even *is* this health insurance I’m picking? by First Aid Kit
What I’m reading in health care this week by Wendell Potter
Why you (and I) will likely pick the wrong health-insurance plan by An Arm and a Leg
For Your Health: Making Sense of American Health Insurance - A how-to zine on American health insurance: how it works, how to pick a plan, and the author's opinions on the entire healthcare economy in the United States, and several moments of cute, heartwarming distraction to keep you from wanting to totally give up hope by Anna Jo Beck
Choose to Lose: Health Plan Choices from a Menu with Dominated Options - An academic article proving the difficulties in choosing health insurance plans using economics