health insurance

Having health insurance doesn’t ensure it will be easy to find a doctor

(THE WASHINGTON POST) - I struggled with this problem for more than a year. After graduating from college, I returned to Washington in 2007. I’d grown up in Bethesda and used a doctor in Kensington during high school. But the journey from my office in Adams Morgan out there took about an hour and a half for car-free me. It was time to find a medical practice in the city.

Naturally, I waited until I wasn’t feeling well to seriously initiate this process. But I didn’t expect any problems. I was just 23, basically healthy and, most important, insured. So I pulled out my computer, looked up the UnitedHealthcare list of preapproved doctors and started calling.

And I got rejected. Again. And again. (Usually after being put on hold for three or four minutes.)

I talked to one primary-care practice that hadn’t accepted new patients in eight years. I talked to another that was accepting new patients only if they had HIV/AIDS.

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