I didn't have a pdoc for years. When my T wanted me to see one there was one years ago that accepted my insurance but abruptly they dropped him. He was ok, not her great but he was private. The next time she thought I should see someone it took a long time and it was a place that only had interns. They really screwed up, I told them no antidepressants but they said trazodone wasn't and antidepressant and I got a lot worse. My T didn't bother to suggest a pdoc after that. During my last crisis I stopped seeing everyone including my T. Meanwhile my insurance changed the rules and no longer does single cases. I was in very bad shape and went to PES (psych emergency services) it's county- public and they see everyone. I was very surprised at the competence of the pdoc, saw him twice there then was assigned a pdoc at a satellite office. They tend to be Pdocs that are older and want to keep working but less hours than private offices without having to pay for secretaries and billing people. The ones I've had (2) have been very good.

But you know these are older ones and they are aging out new docs don't want to specialize in psych for many reasons and those that do don't want to deal with insurance woes so only accept cash. Others prefer to do the private club meds that cater to the wealthy.

In my state I think the ratio is something like one pdoc for 2000 people ---I was close 1,963 people. But I live in a major city so there's more here. There's also a shortage of GPs too.