Radio Gift: Dr. Boots

Joel Rose

 

--Steve Proffitt

This season we asked listeners what they wanted to hear for the holidays, and we responded to their requests with a few "radio gifts."

This one goes out to listener Kathleen Tacelosky.

She wrote us this letter:

Elizabeth Crowley, M.D. is a family practice/primary care physician in New Jersey who is intensely dedicated to her craft and her patients. But healthcare has become an industry in our country, and it is out of whack. She was spending an insane amount of time negotiating with the insurance companies trying to get approvals and trying to get paid.

Joel Rose

Instead of letting her frustration get her down, she has come up with a gutsy, creative solution: As of October 1, she dropped all insurance and Medicare and went all cash. She had a meeting with her patients about it. She's lost some patients, of course, and she's gained new ones. She's keeping a blog about it where she shares what led up to this, her fears, her occasional feelings of guilt, what others are saying to her etc.

She's been writing about her experiences on a blog.

Note that her blog name is "bootscrowley." Some of her patients call her Boots because she wears Doc Martins to work. She's unconventional, determined and has a lot of pluck! I think she'll inspire your listeners as she has me and others who know her.

We sent reporter Joel Rose to visit Dr. Boots, and his story is today's radio gift. Happy holidays to all who wrote us, and thanks for letting us give you a little radio.

Tags: economy | insurance | medicine | radio gift

9:29 AM ET | 12-23-2008 | permalink

comments | | e-mail