First, her favorite doctor in Providence, R.I. retired. Then her other doctor, at a health center a few miles away, left the practice. Now, Piedad Fred has developed a new chronic condition: distrust in the American medical system.
"I don’t know,‘’ she said, eyes filling up. "To go to a doctor that doesn’t know who you are? That doesn’t know what allergies you have, the medicines that make you feel bad? It’s difficult…I know that I feel cheated, sad, and like I have my hands tied.‘’
At 71, she has never been vaccinated against COVID-19. She no longer gets an annual flu shot. And she hasn’t even considered whether to be vaccinated against the respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, even though her age and asthma put her at higher risk of severe infection.
"It’s not that I don’t believe in vaccines,‘’ Fred, a Colombian immigrant, said in Spanish, at her home one morning last fall. "It’s just that I don’t have faith in doctors.‘’
The loss of a trusted doctor is never easy. But it’s an experience that is increasingly common.
The stress of the pandemic drove a lot of health care workers to retire or quit. Now, a nationwide shortage of doctors and other professionals who provide primary care is making it hard to find replacements. And as patients are shuffled from one provider to the next, it’s eroding their trust in the health system.
Not to mention unexpected costs. It’s happened to me a few times where I’ve gone to the dr, gave them my insurance, and then a few weeks later get a bill in the mail they never mentioned. Fortunately they were all under the amount where it can’t affect my credit score 😈
sometimes it’s not like that, like when I got a vasectomy or got my wisdom teeth removed they told me at the desk when I first went in how much my insurance covers, how much was out of pocket, and I was able to make an informed decision on whether it was worth it, and paid right there. The surprise ones wouldn’t have been worth the out of pocket cost, so I would’ve said no if given the chance