Age bias in health care
Doctors and clinics are discriminating against the elderly. As a nurse with an insurance company, I have been told that they can’t find a doctor or specialist who will see them. The reasons given by doctors’ offices are: “We are not taking anyone older than 60,” or “We take this particular insurance but not when it is connected to Medicare,” or “You have so many health issues that it is too complicated for our doctor to handle.”
These are not good enough reasons to refuse to accept a patient, so I thought the members must have not heard it right. So I took a particular member who wanted to find a gynecologist for a wellness exam, got the names of gynecologists who were in her network and started dialing offices. Sure enough, each of them said yes, we are taking new patients; yes, we accept that insurance; no, we don’t take it when it is connected with Medicare.
This is discrimination against the elderly.
Bernice Fletcher
Hindman
This story was originally published July 14, 2017 at 8:44 PM with the headline "Age bias in health care."