Reliable, quality health care and RVing don’t often go hand in hand. Health care can be tough even if you’re in a ‘normal’ life situation: living in one place and getting health care from your employer. Factor in the different ways people RV and it gets much trickier.

Let’s start with the (relatively) easy ones. There are fulltime RVers on Medicare, or working remotely with company health insurance, who keep their primary care providers. They either don’t wander far or plan their travels to swing through their home base for scheduled and routine appointments. Sure, they have to worry about something happening away from home but other than that they have one doctor who is a known quantity and they are a known quantity with the doctor. Now let’s visit the other end of the spectrum.

It seems like the fulltime RVing life has become more popular to younger people in recent years. I see them all the time in the workamping groups. Many are families with young children. They think life will pass them by if they don’t do it now. Or they have terrible jobs. Or high house payments. Or they’re just getting out of a terrible relationship. Take your pick for the reason, but they’re out there. Usually with no health care or, at best, catastrophic coverage. This would terrify me, especially with children. They’re basically rolling the dice, hoping that everyone stays healthy, hoping that there are no undetected conditions lurking inside. Their medical plan is basically whatever emergency room happens to be closest when illness or injury strikes. This is also the group most likely to declare medical bankruptcy or start a Go Fund Me page to pay for a necessary procedure or medications.

Now let’s talk about my group, the ones in the middle. We have decent health insurance with national coverage but no home base and no primary care provider. It used to be pretty easy visiting a new doctor. Prior surgeries? One or two. Medications? One. As I age, the list of both gets longer and I realize that the doctor is at a definite disadvantage not knowing my medical history. But sometimes that doesn’t really matter. Finding a good doctor can be tough. Imagine landing in a city with 500 doctors and you don’t know a single one. You can ask your neighbors and they’ll recommend someone, say they’re the greatest, without any knowledge of the other doctors. You can check Google reviews but the same applies there. It’s mostly folks who only have experience with the one doctor they’re rating. All this is leading up to my latest medical rant.

Mary needed reconstructive foot surgery. We checked with neighbors for recommendations. She checked Google reviews for specialists who accepted her insurance. She went in and had the surgery. I guess time will tell how successful it was but during that process I developed a foot problem and made an appointment with the same doctor. My problem was not easily diagnosable, even with X-rays. On the first visit he was very confident that all I needed was an insert. On the next visit, when he was going to provide the insert, we talked a little more and he revised his diagnosis. He thought the problem was caused by nerves from 2 very specific spinal discs and suggested I consult my regular doctor. Well, since he was very specific about spinal discs I made an appointment with a chiropractor. They weren’t very confident in his diagnosis but still thought they could help. After 2 appointments, I decided they couldn’t help and were just wasting my time and money (since they weren’t covered by insurance). So, more research and an appointment with a different podiatrist. He took his own X-rays and listened to my description of the problem, along with a physical exam. He actually said some things that made sense to me. My problem started shortly after I left Amazon last summer. While I was working at Amazon I was wearing composite toe shoes and from previous experience wearing them in a warehouse environment, I got a wider width than usual. After leaving there, I went back to wearing my regular width running shoes. He measured my feet and I found out the problem foot was slightly wider than the other foot. Three different doctors – four different opinions. We’ll see if the problem clears up with wider shoes.

So, why the title about Dr. Google? I know the medical community generally frowns on the use of Google to research your own medical issues. But sometimes you get a much better consensus from Google than actually visiting doctors, in much less time and no cost. As a functioning adult I can order labs just about anywhere in the country from Quest Diagnostics. As a travelling RVer, I can get many medications without a prescription and at low cost across the border in MX. Sure, I have to do a little more homework and get follow up labs at some point but that’s usually easier than trying to get a doctor appointment if you’re not already an established patient. Of course, none of this applies to emergency conditions or serious injuries. I really don’t feel like setting and splinting a broken bone on my own. But for everything else, Dr. Google is my first stop.