Your health plan can make a difference in the quality of your care.

Working in the insurance field I meet many people who interact with our medical system either with doctors, hospitals or insurance companies. This puts me in a position to hear many comments and there is one I hear more than others, "My doctor just doesn't listen". That is what this article is about, a doctor who didn't listen and how your choice in health insurance providers can affect the care you receive. To do this I'm going to relay a short version of a true incident that happened to a friend.

This friend was going to a large health clinic for care and even though he was with them many years he never felt the quality of care and advice were the best they could be. He wound up with this clinic because they were the only ones who would accept his health insurance plan at the time.

Notice I said don't listen not won't listen. The doctor will always ask you what is wrong but many times what you say is not what they hear, as in this case.

My friend had a slow building problem with a knee. Over a period of months the pain was getting worse until it reached the point where he could not climb steps. Over that course of time, other than poking and feeling the knee the doctor assumed it was arthritis and just gave the most likely answer in order to get to the next patient. The doctor's advice was to live with the pain until he could no longer stand it then get a replacement. Never once did the doctor listen to all the symptoms or have the knee checked.

In this example all the doctor heard were the words knee and pain and due to my friends age just made an assumption, an assumption that caused months of needless pain.
In time my friend got a new healthcare plan from Blue Cross Blue Shield and was able to see a specialist. He learned it was muscle damage and not the knee joint and it could be fixed. All it took was four treatments and now he is running up and down steps.

When your doctor doesn't listen there is only one thing you can do and that is find a new doctor. The happy ending here is my friend's employer finally changed healthcare providers switching to Blue Cross and Blue Shield, which has one of the largest selections of providers available. And my friend, he is happy with his new doctor.