Peter is 46 years old. He is fit, rarely ever gets sick, and has no family history of any significant illness. He has gone to an urgent care twice in the last ten years for strep throat, but otherwise, does not “go to the doctor.”
Now that he is getting older, however, he has been thinking it is time to start seeing a primary care physician (PCP). But since there has been no rush, he hasn’t acted. Every once in a while, he asks friends if they like their doctors, hoping for a recommendation. Generally, they say, “Ehh, they’re fine.” The few times someone has given a strong recommendation, Peter has called the office only to be told the doctor is not accepting new patients or does not take his insurance.
About six months ago, Peter started having an odd feeling in his hands and feet. It comes and goes, and is not very severe, so at first he ignored it, but now he thinks it’s time to act. Since it has been going on for many months, Peter figures it isn’t something he needs to go to the emergency room for, or even urgent care. His friend said he should see a neurologist.
He has called eleven so far—none will schedule an appointment without a referral from another doctor, and they don’t have appointments available for months. Since he doesn’t have a PCP to refer him and has found that most of these offices also don’t have initial visits available for weeks or months, Peter is frustrated and just lets the problem persist.
Then, Peter was invited to an Amaze class through his company. In the class, Peter learned about the many resources available to him through Amaze, paid for by his company and free of charge to him. After class, Peter immediately used this service, and called one of Amaze’s doctors, a family medicine specialist. The doctor gladly provided the referral he needed. The following day, a Member Advocate called and provided him with information for two highly-regarded neurologists who could both see him the following week.
Until Peter needed to access America’s healthcare system himself, he could not have fathomed how difficult it has become to navigate the system and access good care. Peter was able to turn to Amaze for help.
