A few years ago, I went golfing with the Retired Men’s Club members of our church. Since I was a relatively new retiree – and much younger than the average club member – I asked them to share with me one piece of retirement wisdom on each hole.
Related: Life After FIRE – Fitting In
The only two pieces of advice that I still remember are: “never go to the bank & post office on the same daytime. Save something for tomorrow!” and “find a doctor younger than you”. I’m a good procrastinator which helps with that first adage, but have done a poor job at this second piece of advice. It seems I’ve lost both my general practice doctor and my cardiologist in the last two weeks.
I had been with one GP for the last 10 years. I used the MegaCorp doctor at the two companies I worked at and had picked him up as soon as I retired. He was younger than me, but I should have been suspicious when he was asking me a lot of questions about retiring early. Sure enough, he retired early himself.
I was then assigned to a new and very young doctor. He assured me that he was going to outlive me, as he was very athletic and a big sports fan. Unfortunately, he just decided to quit being a GP and go into sports medicine. “I’m not loving being a GP and want to switch while I’m still young,” he said. Makes sense.
Now I have an appointment for my annual physical with a new GP next month. From his picture, he looks a bit younger than me and has a nice smile. That’s how it works with doctors – you just get to see the picture of the new one that they assign you to and hope they do a good job. I looked up his ratings online and he seems good.
It looks like I’ve now lost my cardiologist, too. He’s the one who saved my life when I had a bad heart attack the day after Christmas in 2019. I called this morning to set up my annual appointment and they said that he was “leaving the practice on 7/15”. They couldn’t say if he was going somewhere else or retiring early.
He was younger than me, but asked a lot of questions about my early FIRE escape. He seemed amused that I quit on April Fool’s Day and kept fit by goofing off while he was at work. These doctors are smart and make a good living, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s hanging up his stethoscope.
How successful have you been in maintaining a doctor-relationship over the years?
Image: MrFireStation.com; My current heart doctor clinic in St Paul MN
MrFireStation 
I have chronic kidney disease thanks to my bloodline. My first nephrologist was retired at 65 as that health system requires retirement at 65. I think she continued to work in private practice.
They then assigned me to the department chair who is I guess 50. She is challenging to get appointments as when they call me to schedule my six-month checks there are limited dates. I think this is due to her administrative duties, time spent at dialysis centers and surgery. That isn’t an issue. I suspect that I was assigned to her due to my stable condition that she will be able to follow for many years, yes all patients to a certain extent are lab rats. I am happy with her as my physician as I don’t need a lot of attention but at the same time it appears that I am seen by one of the best.
Now for my dentist, I knew him as a former adult scout leader and while he is two years older than me, his youngest jointed the practice. I have known the son since he was six and he asked me to be his sponsor when he achieved his Eagle rank so I feel that I am safe with a dentist just turning 30.
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That’s neat that your new dentist is the old dentist’s son. My son is an Eagle Scout, too – so I appreciate that. I’ve had bad luck with dentists. One committed suicide (about 20 years ago), and another died piloting a small-engine plane crash. His dentist office was taken over by a group of younger dentists and now I just get whoever walks in that morning. They are all friendly, but you don’t really get to know them at all.
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Ever since Obamacare, we have churned through doctors. My Medicare Advantage Plan is a real circus. I only utilized them one time over the past year for an eye exam. Overfilled parking lot and walking past the emergency room saw they had absolutely horrible wait times.
Next year I might just shop around a Medicare Concierge Plans that also have more of an emphasis wellbeing.
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I was just talking with a good friend about the “Healthcare Concierge” concept yesterday. I only heard about it last year and he had not heard of it yet. We looked online and there is a doctor here in our suburb that is set up that way. Might look into it too.
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