Primary Health Care Provider Plans Can Be A Hassle
There are many individuals and companies that are moving to health insurance through a Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) and with good reason
. These plans tend to be much more affordable and do provide people with the health insurance coverage that they need but the plan is not fool proof.
While HMO's could very well be the choice of the future in health care for policy holders, it has issues that you might want to consider should you need to see a doctor in a short time frame. Seems one pitfall that could create a problem is the placement of a primary health care provider. This would require consulting a specific doctor before any other treatment by any other specialists or physician. Your primary health care provider is expected to see everyone that is part of the plan when needed, but circumstances sometimes might dictate a two or more week wait before getting to see the doctor by way of an appointment. The doctor is only trying to fit you into his busy schedule, especially during winter months when office visits see a steady increase in patients. This is a sad reality of the plan.
Now it seems a little silly that if you see a rash on your skin and know that you have a dermatological problem that you can't call that specialist until your primary doctor approves it. After all you know that problem is on the skin but you still must wait and be approved to see the specialist.
Seeing a primary physician can be an area of concern if you feel that he is not the best doctor and many times these physicians don't want to refer patients elsewhere unless they have to giving that GP license to try and diagnose and treat just about everything. This can really be a nightmare.
A good thing to remember if you are considering a HMO plan and its benefits, is to choose wisely your primary care physician. This will help make your HMO coverage work best for your needs . A HMO might be a little short of being perfect, but it is still a very good health care plan and most always meets the needs of its policy holders with very little problems, and makes for a well balanced overall experience.