Availability of Medicare doctors (Charlottesville: low income, dermatologists, insurance)

[doghead]

Hi, for people on Medicare in NoVA--do you find it easy to find good medical care in the area using Medicare? Thanks.

[skeddy]

densely populated area with many well-to-do people. There's an overall doctor shortage everywhere. Here's some info.

https://www.kff.org/medicare/issue-b...icare-program/

[sprklcl]

Some specialties for new patients here can wait months, which most nearly all accept Medicare. One such as neurology dealing with even minor nervous system issues had to wait three months to be seen. Ophthalmology as a new patients at least three different practices in NoVA as a new patient for a routine exam need to schedule out 4 to 6 months in advance for the best choice of appointments. Once you are a patient in the doctor's practice, then if you have a medical issue, the wait is much shorter. Dermatologists, even good ones, can get an appointment even as a new patient within days or by the following week. Plenty of primary family practice internal medicine doctors around, so typically can get an appointment within a week or month. Doctor's who split their practice in two or three local locations, can have a longer wait to get an appointment. Now Medicaid, which is low income based, not as many doctors accept because their reimbursement rate from the government is lower.

[doghead]

Sprklcl-thank you for the above. this is the list I saw:

https://medicareguide.com/best-state...lthcare-340840

It puts VA at #32 on a list for elderly health care.

[stephenMM]

I misread this, and thought it said "Availability of Mediocre doctors". Most of my doctors have fit that description. The remainder would have to improve a lot to get up to mediocre.

[ChristineVA]

Originally Posted by doghead

Sprklcl-thank you for the above. this is the list I saw:

https://medicareguide.com/best-state...lthcare-340840

It puts VA at #32 on a list for elderly health care.

That list was last updated in 2021 so I'd love to see how it stacks up now. Also, Virginia as a whole is so different from region to region. It could be in Southwest Virginia that medical care and specialists are hard to come by versus northern VA would be a completely different story. But I guess that could also be true of any state.

[BOS2IAD]

In our case, we have Kaiser insurance and also Medicare. Kaiser covers most of our medical expenses. AFAIK the only thing Medicare covered was our Johnson & Johnson COVID shots.

[DAXhound]

My parents have been using Medicare in VA for 25 years. First in NoVa and then Charlottesville area. They have never been shut out, but have stated before that certain doctors aren't taking new patients, and a number of them have retired. Their premiums total about a thousand per month, which seems like a lot for a so-called free healthcare for the aged scheme. And dental is $$$$. Outside of population centers or university towns, you could potentially need a lot of transport....

[doghead]

DAXhound, their premiums for what? There are medicare premiums of about $174 per month, plus a gap plan which is now about $250/month. Just wondering what other premiums you are talking about. Thanks.

[DAXhound]

Originally Posted by doghead

DAXhound, their premiums for what? There are medicare premiums of about $174 per month, plus a gap plan which is now about $250/month. Just wondering what other premiums you are talking about. Thanks.

They each pay twice, monthly. One pays 335 and 97, the other pays 351 and 97. It goes up every year, and generates a lot of mail. 900 would have been more accurate...a trip to the ER for a neck strain was 6500...they were billed zero. Simple prescriptions are "free," but others could be 10 usd per day..paid by them. They are in the Sentara network of providers..