Thanks for the reply, Charles.  By immediate medical practice, do you mean a walk-in urgent care or clinic type of place?  Also, I had no trouble transferring my rx to a local pharmacy, except that one had no refills left.  The other two have 1 or 2 refills available, so what I really need is to find a doctor who will write new prescriptions for all three meds.  It will probably make the payments from medicare & blue cross smoother if the dr. writes it up as if I'm a new patient.  I have excellent medical coverage when I've "stayed put".  I'm not sure what effect fulltiming is going to have though.

gypsy

Our doctor knows we are fulltiming. We fill our RX at Walmart. The doctors office calls the refill into the Walmart we filled it and we are able to pick up and refill it at any Walmart.

We have used urgent care facilities in the past and that was worked out okay too.

It sounds like I'm a dolt for not making sure I had enough left.  I got the 3 Rx refilled before I left Asheville, but they will all expire before I get back there and since it isn't my home any more, I would rather see a doctor along the way if I need one.  The thing is, whether they will write Rx for the same thing I've been taking.  I've been on HRT for a long time and want to continue it until I die, and I don't want some young twit of a doctor preaching to me.  (At my age they are all young twits)

gypsy

Hi Gypsy,

You can ask people you meet, such as in the campground, and then double-check with your insurance, check online for any incidents, and also check the local BBB.

Happy Travels!
Suzanne & Brad
http://campingandtravels.blogspot.com

We've had all sort of medical needs during our 8 years on the road from cuts needing stiches, hives, nasty infections, strep, gallbladder attacks and surgery, prostate cancer and treatment, and symptoms ending with a diagnosis of Parkinson's disease.  We aren't yet old enough for Medicare (but close enough that we're now counting the months!)  If it's not an emergency, we check out the website of our insurance for a list of doctors/hospitals.  We also have done lots of research under the topic of various conditions/problems to find references to "doctors of excellence" for that topic.   We have found that many hospitals now have "urgent care" facilities apart from their ER's.  And, we ask at the campround office for a reputable DR for whatever our problem is.  When calling for an appointment or going in to the office, we always ask if they accept our insurance.  One problem we have discovered is that even if the DR or hospital is on our insurance that they sometimes 'contract out' for testing and/or other doctors that are not on our plan.  We have learned to ask about everything....how many bills we will get and from whom.  Other than a few billing messes, we have had excellent care and coverage all over the US.  The DRs have been willing to continue our prescriptions originally written by other DRs when we assure them that we continue to have annual physicals and we obtain and carry copies of all our previous testing.

All good comments but consider the FTer who is not insured, moves frequently from job-site to job-site, isn't retired and probably won't retire for quite a number of years. First, I keep my own medical "records." Doctor's offices won't just hand you medical records when you announce that you're "moving on." So, with every visit, I update my own document that describes each visit, prescriptions, reason for the visit, any notable comments made by the MD, my BP, any test results, etc. I also include their address and phone number. While finding a temporary MD may be difficult, when I walk into their office with my own "medical history," the MD is more likely to write Rx script and treat me with more respect than just the check that I'll write for their service.

I did find a doctor who is at the Mercy Medical Clinic near here.  I don't know much about this doctor, but was familiar with Mercy as my ex husband's oncologist was located there, and I drove him to many chemo appointments.  I can't say I'm crazy about the doctor I was assigned to - I can barely understand her for one thing.  She wrote me 3 months prescriptions and told me I have to get an exam before she will write any more, and that is set up for late March.  At that point I didn't have much choice because my ins co would already have to pay for the visit.  I'll see her once more and then never go back.

gysy

Luckily, we have not needed a doctor yet.  I'm sure the day will come.  At that time, we'll try to find an urgent care type clinic.

Our doctor's office/clinic in Wisconsin began offering an online feature for patients a few years ago.  You can set up your account and then access it anytime.  All of your test results, prescriptions, etc. are at your fingertips to show any other doctor.  Also, you can email your doctor.  When we need a new prescription, we just email the doctor and he faxes it to the online pharmacy we use.  It helps that we have had the same family doctor for 26 years.  He knows both of us well and works with us to get our prescriptions.  Once a year when we go back to Wisconsin, we'll get our checkups taken care of.

Finding places that accept insurance isn't an issue for us since our deductible is $10,000 each.  Hopefully, we'll never need it! I am grateful that under the new healthcare laws, beginning in January our insurance provider will have to pay for a checkup each year without our meeting the deductible.  At least, I think that's what will happen.

A colleague of my daughter gave her the name of her physician here in Sacramento, with an excellent recommendation. She is at the UCDavis Med Center and took me on with no problems. She is comfortable with my traveling and showed me how to use their "MyChart" system to contact her while on the road, and to be able to see results of any tests I've had there. Since 3 of my children are in Sacramento I will undoubtedly be here often enough to appreciate having a regular doctor, and if I need a doctor while traveling it will be in my favor if I have a "regular". My oldest son is in NY and there are many excellent doctors and surgeons there, so I hope I'm covered on both coasts. Now to just stay healthy while going from one to the other!

Also, I decided to use Costco for my prescriptions, and if I need a refill where there is no Costco I can simply transfer the Rx temporarily. Thanks for all the great information.

Gypsy

Anyone had experiences with pain medication. Its much different than a prescription that can be called in.