Consumer watch

MOUNTAIN VIEW (KPIX 5) – While open enrollment for coverage under the Affordable Care Act is closed, many of the newly insured are finding they can’t find doctors, landing them into a state described as “medical homelessness.”

Rotacare, a free clinic for the uninsured in Mountain View, is dealing with the problem firsthand.

Mirella Nguyen works at the clinic said staffers dutifully helped uninsured clients sign up for Obamacare so they would no longer need the free clinic.

But months later, the clinic’s former patients are coming back to the clinic begging for help. “They’re coming back to us now and saying I can’t find a doctor, “said Nguyen.

Thinn Ong was thrilled to qualify for a subsidy on the health care exchange. She is paying $200 a month in premiums. But the single mother of two is asking, what for?

“Yeah, I sign it. I got it. But where’s my doctor? Who’s my doctor? I don’t know,” said a frustrated Ong.

Nguyen said the newly insured patients checked the physicians’ lists they were provided and were told they weren’t accepting new patients or they did not participate in the plan.

And Nguyen says – while the free clinic isn’t technically supposed to be treating former patents they signed up for insurance, they can’t in good faith turn them away.

Dr. Kevin Grumbach of UCSF called the phenomenon “medical homelessness,” where patients are caught adrift in a system woefully short of primary care doctors.

“Insurance coverage is a necessary but not a sufficient condition to assure that people get access to care when they need it,” Grumbach said.

Those who can’t find a doctor are supposed to lodge a complaint with state regulators, who have been denying the existence of a doctor shortage for months.

Meanwhile, the sick and insured can’t get appointments.

“What good is coverage if you can’t use it?” Nguyen said.

Experts said the magnitude of the problem is growing, and will soon be felt by all Californians. But those on the front lines, like the free clinic, are feeling it first.

More than 3 million Californians are newly insured. At the same time, a third of our primary care doctors are set to retire.

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2014/04/18/consumerwatch-some-covered-california-patients-say-they-cant-see-a-doctor/

This is pure horseshit again no doubt written by the right. There are thousands of walk in clinics you can go to and every provider has agreed to be part of the insurance plan. There are 3 urgent care centers within a mile of me and more springing up.

Dreamsglore wrote:This is pure horseshit again no doubt written by the right. There are thousands of walk in clinics you can go to and every provider has agreed to be part of the insurance plan. There are 3 urgent care centers within a mile of me and more springing up.

yes, the san Francisco local news is all right wing LOL   

So a couple of idiots make for the whole country? Come on, you can do better than this in finding more propaganda.

Dreamsglore: Notice the things that Herr markle, Chrissy and Pacedog all have in common? -- a healthcare program that makes it possible for millions of Americans who had no insurance to gain access to care... is evil.

Children of illegal aliens who have been raised in America should not be granted any benefits to go to college.

The minimum wage laws should be abandoned.

Everybody should be forced to comply in full with new voter registration laws designed to cut down democratic voting.

Creative Design should be taught in public schools as a science.

Women don't need or deserve equal pay.

Big money should dictate ... everything.

All unions are bad because they hurt companies by insisting on safety, reasonable working conditions and a living wage.

We don't need no stinking environmental protection ...

Global warming is a hoax.

Evolutionary Science is a hoax.

Intellectuals are a hoax.

The best diplomacy is that which lets you bully everyone, everywhere, all the time.

You betcha' I can see Russia from my house.

Reality!

One of the things I have always done when selling anyone health insurance or Medicare Advantage is ask "Who is your doctor and what hospital would you have a surgery in or use"? I also show them how to find provider's with the online directory. There are many things you can blame on Obama, but this is  not one of them. If a person cannot do due diligence and look up their provider to see if he/she is network then it'a there fault. If they dealt with an insurance agent and he/she lied to them then sue them. Nothing you can do about a navigator I believe I read. Also if an insurance company is out there selling plans they have not set up networks for this is on the insurance company. If all the company's selling on the FFM in Florida can have their networks in place before Oct 1, 2013 then the other states should have also. Since obamacare left private enterprise (insurance company's) into the mix it is their's and the applicants fault they do not have a network provider and no one else's.

ppaca wrote:One of the things I have always done when selling anyone health insurance or Medicare Advantage is ask "Who is your doctor and what hospital would you have a surgery in or use"? I also show them how to find provider's with the online directory. There are many things you can blame on Obama, but this is  not one of them. If a person cannot do due diligence and look up their provider to see if he/she is network then it'a there fault. If they dealt with an insurance agent and he/she lied to them then sue them. Nothing you can do about a navigator I believe I read. Also if an insurance company is out there selling plans they have not set up networks for this is on the insurance company. If all the company's selling on the FFM in Florida can have their networks in place before Oct 1, 2013 then the other states should have also. Since obamacare left private enterprise (insurance company's) into the mix it is their's and the applicants fault they do not have a network provider and no one else's.

did you read the story? They have a shortage of doctors. They don't have enough doctors see. And the ones on the list are FULL.