>> Preventative medical care can
be a key tool in controlling
high health care costs.
It can detect and treat early
warning signs, help avoid costly
emergency room visits and
contribute to better outcomes.
Nearly a third of Americans lack
access to primary care such as
routine doctors checkups and
many adults say the cost of care
has led them to delay going or
not go at all.
We asked Americans about the
barriers to preventative and
primary care services.
>> I haven't been to a primary
care doctor in two or three
years.
>> I just went to the doctor for
a routine checkup with some
blood tests and I get a big bill
in the mail a few weeks later.
That experience by itself makes
me less likely to go to the
doctor because there is just so
much uncertainty.
>> At first I was looking at
yelp reviews and health grade
and things like that.
You can't even be picky about
that anymore, you just have to
be grateful if you can find any
doctor who says they will take
on a new patient.
>> The new patient fee ranges
between $300 and four $150.
Insurance does not cover that at
all in my experience.
>> I have a number of health
problems so I have attempted to
go to the doctor on numerous
occasions.
Every single one and I'm talking
seven or eight doctors that I
have initial appointments with,
when I go back to reschedule,
they are no longer in my
network, no longer practicing.
>> I have a lot of pain
everywhere.
I finally had to go because I'm
just in a lot of pain.
I went to get an x-ray and I
said my insurance was invalid.
I called them and they said it
was valid.
Now I have to wait another two
or three weeks to get an x-ray.
So I'm still not being treated.
My hands are killing me and I
work really hard.
It's just really frustrating.
>> I needed to see a
gastroenterologist about a year
ago and I managed to get a 15
minute call with one and I got
charged $900 for that 15 minute
call.
In my insurance company which
was costing me quite a bit of
money would not pay most of it
because they said I had a
deductible for that.
So I was just really
exasperated.
It's all very expensive and the
care seems to be sort of
inaccessible.
>> What's going to happen
shortly is I'm going to go to
the er, which is extraordinarily
costly and unnecessary but
that's why we have a problem in
this country.
When it is so difficult to see
an actual doctor, people go to
the er which is exponentially
more expensive than just going
to your individual doctor.
>> Doctors are under a lot of
pressure to see as many patients
as possible, so they don't give
the patient one-on-one
attention.
I find it very frustrating as a
patient advocate and as a
patient myself, so I just avoid
it because it's very
disheartening.
>> The voices of some of those
who are frustrated with health
care.
A clinical professor of primary
care and population health at
Stanford medical school.
The things people are sliding,
does that ring true to you?
>> It definitely rings true to
me.
It is very hard nowadays to get
a primary care doctor.
Access is so minimal and it's
very expensive.
>> Why is it hard to find a
primary care doctor?
Not only to get an appointment
but sometimes finding one who is
taking new patients is
difficult.
>> It's a big problem.
We have a primary care crisis in
this country.
Personally I think primary care
is underappreciated, underpaid.
The young doctors don't want to
be primary care doctors, they
want to be specialists.
We don't have enough primary
care doctors.
The ones we have take on an
enormous amount of work with all
the preventative health care,
all the follow-up visits, all
the after our computer work
answering messages, and they get
burned out.
>> During the pandemic, a lot of
people were afraid to see the
doctor.
They were worried about sitting
in the waiting room close other
people.
Have they gotten in the habit of
not going to the doctor now?
>> There is still a certain
amount of fear.
Many people did not come to the
doctor for three years.
They let their health problems
lapse.
Unfortunately they got worse.
Blood pressure is less well
controlled.
Now everybody is trying to get
in and it's frustrating.
For us as providers as much as
locations.
>> You talked about the lack of
access to primary care
physicians.
Is there a type of patient who
is more likely to lack access to
a primary care physician?
>> It has a lot to do with
insurance.
Patients who don't have good
insurance have it even harder to
get primary care doctors.
Certain insurances are not taken
by different clinics and those
poor patients can't get access.
>> A lot of those patients end
up treating the emergency room
as their primary care physician.
Obviously it's more expensive to
do that.
But what does that do to the
system?
>> It is a big problem.
Most patients wait until they
are seriously ill and then they
do need to go to the emergency
room because they are sick.
We also have a lot of patients
who shouldn't come to the
emergency room because they just
need prescription refills and
the emergency rooms are
overloaded, wait times are
really high.
So that's not the good way to
get primary care or preventative
health care.
>> Has telehealth helped and
does it have the possibility of
helping solve this problem?
>> I'm a huge fan of telehealth
because it does take away a lot
of barriers patients have.
They don't need to find child
care or elder care or take time
off work, because they can do
the visits in their lunch
breaks.
Some patients especially the
elderly population are not as
savvy with video visits so they
are not as comfortable.
Overall I think telehealth is a
really great addition to health
care.
>> We have also seen the growth
in urgent care centers.
Is that helping?
>> I have seen so many patients
and I hear from my patients, I
tried to make an appointment
with my primary care doctor, I
can't get in.
Now as urgent care doctors we
start doing chronic disease
management.
Not just urgent care anymore.
Now I prescribe diabetes
medication because it's just too
hard to get an appointment with
primary care.
>> Another thing we heard from
people around the country
talking about their experience
his frustration with insurance.
With -- which the providers have
nothing to do with.
>> I'm as frustrated as the
patients.
There is no transparency.
I order a test, I don't know if
it gets covered.
Every January insurance decides
what medications get covered.
A patient is on the same drug
for 20 years and all of a sudden
they don't cover it anymore.
It would help if they were more
transparent.
>> What could help take away
these frustrations and help
people go to the doctor more
often?
>> I think it's important that
everybody has a primary care
doctor.
You don't want to wait until you
really need a doctor because
then it will take nine to 10
months to see somebody.
Everybody should know make an
appointment, so you have
somebody.
And then follow up, do your
preventative health care.
I know people think I'm healthy,
it's not necessary.
But it's important to know if
the blood pressure is -- or not
because we can prevent problems
down the line.