01/06/15 - 12:31 p.m.

This is an entry with good news. I found a doctor - which was kind of a big deal, because I wasn't expecting to have to look for a new one. I got really cheap healthcare, but they did it by narrowing their network. That meant my old physician wasn't available, and I was in kind of a tizzy about having to locate someone new...

After a good night's sleep, I tried again. I realized what I wanted was to find someone local, not just for a check-up but in case there's an emergency. So first I called my local hospital to figure out whether their emergency room would accept my new insurance. They were very friendly, and referred me to my insurer, and after just a little bit of waiting, I was transferred to a cheery operator who answered the question (and also gave me a list of other hospital emergency rooms that I could go to).

But I'd also asked that local hospital's operator which doctors they had who could perform routine checkups and become my new Primary Care Physician. That was the thing that turned this all around, because they gave me a few names, and then I just confirmed that both of them were on my insurer's list of in-network providers. (And they were!) Maybe I should've been working backwards -- find the facility where I want to go, then ask them who their checkup/PCP doctors are. Anyways, I got it to work, and can claim victory on this...