Originally Posted by jtf560

It isn't United Healthcare or Aetna or Blue Cross that has required it, it is the local provider networks where I live. I have switched and still found them to be in the business of mass money extraction instead of actual customer service. I am dealing with it now to get to an ENT for myself and I've dealt with multiple times with my wife needing a gastro doctor and when she needed an ENT. I truly wish I had your provider network or doctors available where I live because it is a very big pain point to have to wait for an appointment with a generalist to refer you into the wait for the specialist- especially on my schedule. I had to wait almost 2 weeks to get to a nurse practioner in my network office. They wouldn't accept the urgent care referral from an outside network. That sucks. I won't see the ENT until January. I have a flight physical this month. I hope it is minor enough not to ground me because it is impossible to get to the specialist any earlier for me. This has nothing to do with our excellent Healthcare plan and has everything to do with the local networks.