Minesweeper: Healthcare Edition

Have you ever played Minesweeper when you were a kid? I used to love that game. When I play games, I want to use as little brain power as possible (strategy games are out). Consistency and predictability are key. You do your math right, you get the mine right. The whole experience should feel like meditation.

But imagine finding yourself in a minefield where the numbers are rigged; there's nothing meditative about that. And that is what navigating healthcare feels like.

In our upcoming series, we’ll explore various obstacles consumers face and shed light on the underlying issues. But first, allow me to introduce Ms. Lucid, whose insightful discourse on a popular online forum encapsulates the sentiments shared by many of us.

How am I supposed to go to the doctors?

Posted February 2024

I've never had a primary care provider before. I now have good insurance and a large knowledge gap on how to use it. Most resources are incredibly hard to digest.

I've been having some pains in my abdomen, and I'd like to get it sorted out. I don't think I'd call it an emergency, as it doesn't hurt all the time. I don't want to go to urgent care, because any time I've ever gone to urgent care with anything more than a sore throat, they tell me to just go to the ER. This seems like something you might talk to *your doctor* about, and I'd almost guarantee that if I were to go to the ER, they'd say something along the lines of "there is no emergencies here, follow up with your primary care provider in the next 3 days.”

I figure the best place to find a primary care provider, is by searching my insurances doctor directory and starting from there. However, when you go to the insurance companies doctor directory and input your plan, there's a big banner at the top of the page that says -"this page may or may not be accurate". So I figure, okay, I guess this isn't easy. I'll just call these places and see if that doctor takes my insurance.

...

Most of the places hadn't even heard the doctors name before. so not only is the website inaccurate, those doctors don't even exist at the locations it says they do. Okay again, I guess this isn't easy. I'll just call different networks in my area, see if they take my insurance, and see if there's anyone who can see me or tell me why, in the entire […] state of […] there is only 1 doctor and the soonest they can see me is in September?

Do these folks think I called looking for a doctor, because I don't have a reason to go to the doctors right now? So I have concerns about my health, and the seemingly only resolution is, hopefully it doesn't get worse in 8 months?? What's my alternative?

I don't understand, and I'm feeling defeated.

Experts in the healthcare industry like to talk about how to help people navigate the complex healthcare system, with the best intentions. But as Ms. Lucid demonstrated in her sound line of reasoning, adding another person to the minefield doesn’t solve the problem - you might just get bombed twice… The real issue lies in the rigged numbers.