I recently got insurance and I want to take full advantage of it by doing something I’ve always wanted to do, and thats go to speech therapy.
Anyways I need a referral, and thats where the nightmare starts. You think it would be easy to identify a problem in yourself and identify those who can fix it and simply putting 1 and 2 together, but apparently our medical system wanted me to account for dark physics, and carry a phantom 2. Anyways, I need something called a primary care doctor before I can see a specialist, but I dont even know who that is?
So I pulled up my insurance website, and have all the primary care options up, but I don’t know if I need a doctor who practices family medicine, or internal medicine, I cant find one in my insurance that practices general medicine.
I feel like as a single young man, family medicine just would exclude me, idk why. And internal medicine sounds like for really important surgeries, am I overthinking/autistic. Anyways, I need a clear and concise answer, so I came here. Thanks.
13 comments
Family medicine is always what I’ve used for primary care, or whatever clinic my job has a deal with where I can have visits for free.
yup, primary care is a GP (general practitioner). you typically see them first when something goes wrong. they sort of filter out people who may not need specialists.
anyone will do. family med, internal med, etc. the family care doc should be able to take care of you.
the specialist specifically said you need a referral? that’s a little strange. i’ve seen a cardiologist, a gastroenterologist, and an ENT without a referral. i just called their office and booked an appointment.
I work with insurance. The Healthcare system is broken but a lot stems from the insurance itself. If it’s through work, also blame them because they have direct control over the majority of your plan details. (Excuse my rant)
Family and internal will do fine (my gf who worked in medical accreditation agrees). Family will treat both children and adults while internal is more geared towards adults especially middle age people who start developing chronic issues
Basically Internal medicine focuses exclusively on adult medicine, while family medicine typically sees all the members of a family
Not necessarily for finding a specialist, but I’m 24 and just found a primary doctor. Determine if you want a md or a do, look at reviews for the doctors, and from there call their office to see if they are accepting new patients and can schedule a visit. From there once you see them I think they can refer you to a specialist. I just went with someone who is a family doctor even though I’m just your average guy, and it went well because I went to someone based on her experience rather than anything else. Nothing wrong with going with family medicine, they can help you just like others can
First of all, you need a “primary care” doctor. Your insurance plan will likely require this, and honestly, you should already have one. It’s the doctor you see when you’re sick, when you get your checkups/physicals, etc.
“Family Medicine” means they treat all-ages, e.g. pediatrics, teenagers, adults, geriatrics. It INCLUDES you, not EXCLUDES you. Some primary care doctors, for example, only treat people 18+ so they wouldn’t be “family medicine”.
“Internal medicine” means they are primary care doctors with additional certifications.
As for speech pathology – you first go to see your “primary care” doctor, and then get an insurance referral to a speech pathologist that’s in-network.
A primary care doctor is just a normal family doctor or general practitioner. It’s who you would go see for a yearly checkup or if you thought you had the flu. If you’re looking up providers on your insurance company’s website look for something like family medicine, internal medicine, general practice, or some of them specifically list something like primary care physician.
Another option is to call doctor’s offices nearby and ask if they accept your insurance. And even if you find someone on your insurance company’s website, you’ll need to call anyway to find out if they’re accepting new patients.
So here is the way I explain picking an adult doctor to my teen patients:
There are three kinds: family medicine, internal medicine, and med-peds.
Med-peds is who you go to for life span diseases that start in childhood.
Internal med is who you go to if you have a scary family hx (say, everyone gets heart attacks before age 50) or you have early adult onset of long term diseases (hypertension, diabetes) as these folks are used to polypharmacy and balancing chronic conditions/treatments.
Family med is good for the rest of people.
Given your speech concern, I would ask for a Med-Peds doc and ask them to refer you to a speech therapist. Alternatively, they may send you to an ENT surgeon for anatomic eval before sending you for 6 months worth of therapy for something they can fix operatively in an hour.
I went into the hospital last June where they said I have MS. I went to an Internal Primary, who referred me to a Neurologist.
Call your insurance company; they’ll direct you
You can try going to an urgent care. Often times they are affiliated with medical groups and can find you primary care or refer you to a specialist. It’s how I got set up with my current doctor for health issues I’ve been having.
Primary care can refer you to a speech therapist. Its common with most insurances. My son had to do speech and occupational therapy when he was i. Elementary and it helped him greatly.
About any general practitioner will do you fine, just go with whatever is in your network that is highest rated.
People piss, whine, and moan about our healthcare system, but honestly insurance is what’s made it broken. Extra work, extra money, extra headache, all to have the same entity you’re paying fight with you about the services you’re paying for.