Financial.
$400 to visit a specialist in a town 45 minutes away only to meet with the doctor for 5 minutes and him basically telling me that he had no additional tests to conduct and no additional instructions to give from my preceding ER visit. This specialist was the only one with an appointment available in my health insurance network for 5 months after my visit to the ER.
$2200 bill for another ER visit (no ambulance ride—I checked myself in) that was issued to me 14 months after that visit. I hounded my insurance app and the hospital network app for like 2 months after the visit with anxiety about the financial impact, and after that time I just kind of assumed it was taken care of by insurance and my co-pay+deductible (which was a little under $600 itself) had covered it. Nope—$2200 bill with charges dated to that ER visit mailed to me and the apps sent me notifications ahead of the arrival of the bill to let me know it was coming. I was living just above a paycheck-to-paycheck standard of living at the time, ended up having to borrow money from my mom to take care of it. :( I would have been screwed otherwise.
If I knew for sure that my annual deductible was all that it was going to cost me out of pocket for doctors and hospital visits, I'd go any time I even had what seems like a small issue. But I just do not trust the system to not completely sticker shock me with zero upfront estimates of cost. At this point, I'm only going to go if I have a prolonged issue.
$400 to visit a specialist in a town 45 minutes away only to meet with the doctor for 5 minutes and him basically telling me that he had no additional tests to conduct and no additional instructions to give from my preceding ER visit. This specialist was the only one with an appointment available in my health insurance network for 5 months after my visit to the ER.
$2200 bill for another ER visit (no ambulance ride—I checked myself in) that was issued to me 14 months after that visit. I hounded my insurance app and the hospital network app for like 2 months after the visit with anxiety about the financial impact, and after that time I just kind of assumed it was taken care of by insurance and my co-pay+deductible (which was a little under $600 itself) had covered it. Nope—$2200 bill with charges dated to that ER visit mailed to me and the apps sent me notifications ahead of the arrival of the bill to let me know it was coming. I was living just above a paycheck-to-paycheck standard of living at the time, ended up having to borrow money from my mom to take care of it. :( I would have been screwed otherwise.
If I knew for sure that my annual deductible was all that it was going to cost me out of pocket for doctors and hospital visits, I'd go any time I even had what seems like a small issue. But I just do not trust the system to not completely sticker shock me with zero upfront estimates of cost. At this point, I'm only going to go if I have a prolonged issue.