I'm assuming Dr. Phan is still a great doctor.
I say "assuming" because I'm no longer her patient. Why? She dumped me. Last year I (like many Americans) went through an extended period of unemployment and no health insurance. I couldn't see her for awhile.
When I became gainfully employed and fully insured again (yay!) the first thing I did was looked her up in the "book" for the HMO insurance plan I selected to make sure she could remain my PCP. Keep in mind, again, that she's already been my physician for going on 10 years. I was so loyal to her that, if she hadn't been listed in the plan I selected, I was prepared to choose another one where she was. I was pleased that Dr. Phan was listed in the plan I selected, and I called her office right away to make an appointment and get re-established.
I arrive a week later or so for my appointment only to be told that Dr. Phan would not see me because she was not part of my insurance plan. Huh? But she's listed in my plan, I protested -- in the book and on the website. And furthermore, why didn't I receive a call telling me this before I actually came to the office.
Dr. Phan's front-desk "gatekeeper" claimed that they've been trying to have her removed from my plan's "book" for several years. I, frankly, don't believe that. Not only is she listed in the book, she's listed on the website. It cannot be THAT difficult to remove. And further, I was asked the specifics of my insurance plan was when I made the appointment -- if Dr. Phan wasn't part of it, why not tell me then?
Although I've had the same cell number for 6 of the almost 10 years that Dr. Phan was my PCP, and that number is listed as my primary number, her office called my home landline about an hour before the appointment to "cancel" it. How many people listen to their landline voicemail with any frequency? And why the office never called my cell number remains a mystery.
I asked if Dr. Phan would see me anyway -- again, I hadn't been to the doctor in at least 9 mos. and I figured, after all of our history together, we could find a way to sort it out. No such luck. Front desk chick told me "Sorry, bye."
So that's that. Never got any kind of follow up phone call or anything from Dr. Phan or her office. I felt silly for thinking that having had a longstanding history with her meant something. In the end, it did not. It's all about the "plan" and the profits. read more