Much has been in the news recently about Alaska Regional’s closure of its Medicare clinic for seniors, at a time when seniors make up a rapidly growing segment of Anchorage’s population.
My family is well-acquainted with Anchorage’s inadequate health coverage for seniors. My mom spent virtually her entire adulthood in Anchorage but got stuck for many years with a physician who had faced disciplinary action — unrelated to her care — because her Medicare insurance meant that no other clinic would accept her for years. Thus, she was thrilled when she finally was able to sign up at Alaska Regional’s Medicare clinic, which worked well for her for several years. However, it stopped working well when it became impossible to get an appointment in a reasonable time frame. Indeed, a couple of years ago my family, like others, were told to take her, when ill, to either urgent care or the emergency room because no appointments were available. Needless to say, we lost our mom after taking her to the emergency room, leaving us to wonder if the outcome would have been different if timely medical appointments with her physician had been accessible earlier.
In contrast, there is much to celebrate about Providence stepping up to the plate and greatly expanding its primary care clinics in Anchorage. When I retired recently, I was no longer able to use the same medical clinic that I had been using for insurance reasons. Given my mom’s experiences, I knew to be very careful about picking a new clinic as I too would soon be of Medicare age. I concluded that Providence Primary Care was my best option as a clinic that likely would be here for the long haul and not drop me at age 65. Based on my experiences so far, I’m pleased with the quality and timeliness of appointments.
Providence Hospital was the subject of criticism some time ago for not always telling persons that they may qualify for financial assistance if a hospital bill greatly exceeded a person’s ability to pay. However, I have not seen much in the media about the impact that Providence’s expansion of its primary care clinics has had on the Anchorage community. Providence’s new clinics have resulted in many more local residents being paired with actual primary care providers, which of course leads to better health outcomes than the alternative of accessing health care only through urgent care and emergency room visits. I, for one, am grateful, and know that many former patients of Alaska Regional’s Medicare clinic will be grateful too when they switch to Providence Primary Care.
— Linda Brooks
Anchorage
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