In healthcare, I want my doctor to know me. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve received letters from Sutter Medical saying a doctor is now out of network, or, from a doctor saying she is leaving an HMO or a PPO.

It shouldn’t matter. How I’m treated, medically, should not vary by which network is paying for it, and determined by how they run their back-office books. But I’m truly certain that is how it is, in America today.

Having just seen my primary care doctor for the third year in a row – wow – that’s a first, in my entire fifty years of living, I’ve never had consistency in my healthcare. At least with my shrink, we’re about to lap our 4th year, starting our 5th. I guess that’s progress, and it’s hard to have that without consistency.