Do you trust your primary care physician?

Hi there.
I’m not sure what everyone else’s experience has been like, but I recently had a bit of an argument with my primary care physician. She refused to provide a prescription for a medication that should be covered by Medicare. Her reasoning was that since she’s a contracted provider, she’s supposedly required to order it herself, pay for it upfront, and then wait for Medicare to reimburse her. She was quite blunt about it, too—basically telling me that if I wasn't happy, I should just go find a new doctor.

I've recently switched to a new doctor at a different community health center, but I have to say, I’m getting the impression that I learn more about potential illnesses and symptoms through medical websites and online forums than I do from my own physician. I guess he just doesn't seem to provide much information.
Following that, they recently issued my referrals to see a specialist, just as I requested after providing my reasoning.

I have a question regarding the current direction of our healthcare system. There seems to be an increasing push to shift more responsibilities onto primary care physicians in order to alleviate the burden on major hospitals. My concern lies in how one can truly trust a general practitioner who has only just finished medical school and possesses virtually no practical experience. It feels as though I often end up discovering things about my own health through my own research rather than receiving meaningful feedback from my doctor.

To be honest, from where I'm sitting, it feels like their entire job just boils down to churning out prescriptions and orders. It seems like they lack any real, deeper engagement with the patient or a comprehensive approach to actually treating the illness itself.
This is how contract physicians operate lately. They’re telling me point-blank that they won't cover the cost of my prescribed medication, and they refuse to wait for Medicare to reimburse them.

amberorca40 said:I don't know about everyone else, but I just got into a massive blowout with my GP. Honestly? I’m done. I already went out and found a new doctor and switched over to a different community health center, but even this new guy is a total bust. It feels like I'm getting more actual medical insight from random health blogs and internet forums than I ever get from my own doctor. Like, seriously, why am I paying for an appointment if Google knows more about my symptoms than the person with the degree? Total joke.
So, after all that back and forth, they finally caved. I put in the request, gave them my whole damn reasoning, and they actually issued the referrals for the specialists. Finally.

So, basically, you're the kind of guy who makes doctors want to pull their hair out.
You’re just being argumentative and arrogant. Seriously, you walk around like you’ve got some kind of genius IQ when you really don't. Get over yourself.
Alright, that's one down. Moving on...

How am I supposed to trust a doctor who basically just walked across the stage at graduation? Seriously. It’s wild. You go in there thinking you’re getting an expert, and instead, you get someone who probably still has their student loan statements sitting on their dashboard. How do you even deal with that?

Doctors actually finish school? Like, actual school? You sure about that?

I basically have zero clue what’s actually going on. I end up figuring things out on my own way before I even get a single word of feedback from my doctor.

Yeah, exactly. Like I said, that genius is just built that way. 🙂
So you're telling me the doctor's got zero experience, yet somehow you end up knowing more than they do? Classic. Typical.
Good grief, where on earth do you even find this kind of nonsense? 🙏
So, I'm guessing when you roll up to the mechanic, you suddenly become an expert on engines, right? Same goes for when the plumber shows up, or when you’re at the barber, the dentist, or even just grabbing steak at the butcher shop. You just know everything about every single profession. Such a little genius. 👏

Honestly, from where I’m sitting, their whole job seems to boil down to nothing more than scribbling prescriptions and filling out referral forms. It’s all paperwork. There’s zero actual substance—no real attempt to actually look at the patient or deal with the disease itself. Just mindless bureaucracy.

Here we go again... more bashing. Just what the world needs. 🙄

So, here’s how these contract doctors pull their nonsense. They look me straight in the eye and tell me they aren't paying for my prescription upfront. Apparently, they aren't about to sit around waiting for Medicare to reimburse them. Unbelievable.

Look, this has nothing to do with the actual topic, but whatever. I guess an academic like you finally feels all warm and fuzzy inside now. 👍

I happen to have an incredible primary care physician; she was actually one of the top students in her graduating class, so you can imagine the level of competence there. I completely understand where you're coming from.

My previous doctor was the complete opposite, someone who seemed terrified of everything—myself, her patients, even the diseases themselves—and she would hand out referrals to specialists for every little thing just to shift the responsibility off her own shoulders. How many times have you found yourself cycling through specialist appointments for a simple sore throat, or being sent for endless swabs and tests for every minor symptom? If a ten-year-old comes in with inflamed tonsils, you should just prescribe an antibiotic and move on, right? But apparently, that wasn't her style.

What can I really say? I consider myself lucky, though I can't say the same for everyone else. My current doctor is so overbooked now that she isn't even accepting new patients anymore.

As for searching things up online, if I can offer any advice based on my own experience, the only real result is that we end up convincing ourselves we have symptoms and illnesses that aren't actually there. I used to think I was immune to that kind of thing, but it happened to me, and I've since promised myself that I won't spend my time reading about diseases or trying to diagnose my own ailments. If you were truly in danger, you'd know 🙂