Doctor Shortage!!! - online doctors, transphobia, and terrible leadership

 

So....mostly venting here.

I recently sought to get a PCP and what a circus.... 

I spent months (MONTHS) waiting for and receiving a video call with an endocrinologist that is LOCAL to where I live and through a local hospital/medical provider near me.  They were great and at the time it was my understanding that they could also be a PCP. Yet finally talking with them, I told them my story, that I'm already getting HRT through an online provider and need a PCP and they said. Oh... I'd love to be your PCP but can't I'm specialized. So call this number and get one...

So.....I called my local health provider number which is HUGE, they have hospitals etc and one center is like 1/3 mile from my house.  So I want to use them and I called and they said "oh we don't have ANY PCP right now taking new patients, call back end of month, we are supposed to be getting some new doctors". SIGH

So.... I tried plan B and I called the other HUGE hospital/medical complex number and got a recording for new patient intake and it said "go use the MyChart App, or schedule online through ./findadoctor (Their web page). So... ok I go to find a doctor and I filter by "accepting new patients" and local to me. and they list doctors BUT there is no "schedule option". LOL..WTF.. just a phone number that is the same number I just called that is an automated @#%#% of @#%#@% that goes in circles. press 1 if you want to blow your brains out, press 2 if you want to here option 1 .. that kind of stuff. 

See the problem here.... were going in a F@#%@#% CIRCLE. 

So then I go to my insurance and they suggest I use their Video online doctors through MDLive. So I select "Find a dermatologist" and I find one that also has LGBTQ listed as a tag. so I'm like..ok...friendly doctor. 

So I fill out all the information, what I'm seeking prescription strength numbing creme (which is usually 10/20% range), or a mix of 10/20/20 and multiple pain numbing agents. They require pictures so I give them pictures and I explain what I need. 

The doctor (quoting my fingers in the air here), gives me a prescription for anal rectal 5% creme and said they couldn’t issue a higher percent because of risk of systemic cardiac toxicity. sigh.....

5% creme I can literally already buy over the counter (and have). 

So...I cancelled my prescription for this and talking with my local pharmacist, that also found it unusual and thought it was funny they would prescribe such a thing.

So... I sent the mdlive "doctor" (quoting fingers here) a follow up message stating my case. Message below.

 "To share a bit more , I’m transgender my name is Michelle , <snip> insurance requires. I use my dead name so I can’t pass it into MD live…sigh. I've been openly transitioning for years. I’ve been doing electrolysis for eight months now….

I’ve done a lot of research on numbing creams and I’ve talked with my trans community and with multiple AI (Claude and gpt) and they both said 10 to 20% is commonly prescribed including benzocaine lidocaine tetracaine, or lidocaine epinephrine tetracaine 20/20/10 %ratios which is the gold standard for electrolysis. I canceled the prescription and anal rectal 5% cream is generally NOT prescribed for these situations. The toxicity concern you mentioned is not really a factor in these cases because the it’s not being injected and absorption is quite weak in the areas being worked on such as the upper lip.   The ratios I mentioned above, are routinely and safely prescribed to transgender patients for electrolysis tattoo removal, and these are hair removal . I will be calling <snip> insurance Monday to talk to them about this, and I will be finding a different doctor and not using MD live. 

 

It’s upsetting and disappointing that I was prescribed 5% over-the-counter anal rectal crème as a prescription for my face. The lip and chin are very painful area for transgender patient’s. The nerve density is deep and so are the hair follicles. This is why many transgender patients seek prescription strength numbing cream, and are routinely prescribed it."

 

 

they responded back saying their hands were tied by the insurance company guidelines. WTF. and said that if I need higher level I need to see a doctor face to face... *Sigh*...  So round and round we go. Its madness.

 

I think WE THE PEOPLE can agree that healthcare is broken on every level in the United States

 

If you search online such as "NPR Shortage Doctors" or other terms you will get countless articles on the problem. Apparently 40 years ago... there was a concern there would be to many doctors.. WTF. so the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT created limits on how many doctors could be graduated/created every year. This has in turn caused a MASSIVE shortage of doctors today. Look it up, this is a fact.  The only reason I can think the federal government would enact laws to prevent to many doctors would be to control health care and to control the VALUE of a doctor. Scarcity leads to higher salaries.

 

The system is broken and our government is behind it. Trump chasing transgender people, declaring wars on cities and illegal aliens that do all the grunt work, and still pay taxes on their wages but get no benefit instead of focusing on health care, education for all, fixing our aging and broken infrastructure. 

 

The system is broken and there are a lot of bad politicians out there..