California retirees to red rural areas have long commutes to blue urban areas for good medical care

[Demovictory9]

https://www.sfgate.com/northcoast/article/humboldt-cities-not-retirement-oasis-19830261.php

Humboldt County residents say LA Times ranking is majorly flawed
The paper declared two major cities the state's top retirement spots. Locals say that's 'extremely problematic.'

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Jones also criticized the LA Times for its health and wellness metric. The publication ranked both Eureka and Arcata in the top 50% of cities in its health and wellness metric, saying it took into account “dozens of factors, including air quality, access to transportation and proportion of adults with health insurance — though not direct access to hospitals.”




Why direct access to hospitals was disregarded is unclear, especially because it would have clearly affected the rankings for Eureka and Arcata. Humboldt County “has faced challenges with health care services, which can be a legitimate concern for retirees who require consistent access to medical care,” Jones said, which would presumably indicate older people looking to retire.

Ted Pease, the editor of Senior News, a monthly newspaper published by the Humboldt Senior Resource Center, agreed, telling SFGATE that framing Humboldt County as a “retirement oasis” is majorly flawed because “health care here is extremely problematic.” Despite the county’s four hospitals, Peas said, “almost everyone has to travel to the Bay Area for medical treatment,” which is a five-hour drive at minimum, given the need to travel through the Coast Ranges. He and his wife have made the 600-mile round trip “15 times in the last three years for my wife’s knee replacement and other issues,” he said, and it’s “totally exhausting.”


The Area 1 Agency on Aging’s 2023 survey showed 57% of Humboldt County’s elderly rated the “Availability of affordable quality physical health care” as poor. Over 70% said getting the health care they need was a problem.

Marci Pigg, the longtime real estate agent, told SFGATE, “Some people that I have sold homes to are traveling out of the area to their previous health care provider because they couldn’t get a doctor here.”

[gab13by13]

1. I do that in rural Pa.

I'm went to Pittsburgh to have an ablation to fix my A-fib, been fine for 5 years, knock on wood. My local hospital had a doctor visit once a week to do ablations.

My buddy had his knee replacement done at the local hospital about a year ago, I noticed he was limping today in church, he said his knee still isn't right. I told him I'm going to Pittsburgh, he said, good move.

With that said our local hospital has a surgeon who I would go to in a heartbeat, over any doctor, anywhere. He did a double hernia operation for me and I was golfing in 2 1/2 weeks. he did breast cancer surgery on my wife which turned out fantastic.

There are good doctors in small, rural hospitals, and there are doctors in big city hospitals for the notoriety, one needs to vet the doctors.

[tanyev]

2. My former boss and her husband had a dream of retiring somewhere in the mountains in Colorado.

They took vacations there (in the summer) and would check out properties while they were there. She was a good boss and I liked her, but this idea seemed crazy to me. Both she and her husband had health issues that needed regular attention, even before retirement. Not good candidates for living out in the middle of nowhere, especially in a place that has serious winter challenges.

That was several years ago and they must have reconsidered because last I heard, they were still living in my North Texas suburb.

[FirstLight]

3. Yeah, not just a red/blue issue

We're in Tahoe...often have to drive to Sacramento for specialists. One Dr wants to send us to UC Davis! And our area is pretty liberal...but there's just no incentive for our medical people to be here scraping by when housing is astronomical.

Unfortunately, it often either means a marathon day of driving...not just the freeways but the mountain roads at night.

[DeepWinter]

4. totally agree

Not a red/blue issue. I live in a red city, in a red county, in a red state. Excellent health care. It's location.

[ProudMNDemocrat]

6. Resort areas like Tahoe are remote lack proper Medical facilities.

Though people choose to live there not thinking that having access to good medical care might be an issue.

Having spent close to a week in South Lake Tahoe 3 years ago in December, I had a nasty sinus cold. We left the resort 2 days early due to a snow storm forcasted to drop upwards to 4 feet of snow. When returning back to Rochester, I sought Medical attention. It was Sinus and not COVID. We both had had COVID Boosters weeks before starting a 2 month road trip to California. The masks we brought surely helped.

[dalton99a]

5. Good places to just lay there and look out the windows if you don't have reliable transportation

[Historic NY]

7. Choose wisely its a life or death decision.

I know

[hunter]

8. "Good Medical Care???" They must be mistaken.

The common standard for medical care in the U.S.A., even in the more affluent cities, is "Mediocre and Extraordinarily Expensive."