In Reply to: Warning--long. Year in, year out my posted by routine blood work has been normal ... sm on Wed, Jul 28 2021 at 02:05 PM CDT:
I found a good GP for my DH many years ago. He used to go to a place like you described, and it just annoyed me. So I found him an "old country doctor" (who he loved), who later joined a "big" practice with too many rules.
Our insurance was linked online, but only if you signed up, which I did. I now get his lab results even before our PCP sees them. In the past DH would get a call from the doc and now he already knows the results. I made my mother and DH sign so that I could have access to their info on-line and over the phone or in person, which seems obvious but is actually not. (The day it becomes an emergency is too late.)
Years later we are now on Medicare with another insurance as secondary. DH has cancer, so lots of lab visits and such. We get lab results on line, very fast (like next day or so). By the time his doc calls him he already has seen his results (and my interp).
Your doctor has a set of rules that you agreed to when you saw him/her. I actually read the darn paperwork first and didn't agree to that "crap". It isn't just that is your medical results and you should have access to them, it is that they have chosen to charge you to have access. I really, really don't like having to "sign up" to some lab to get results, but we now do that so we get them right away rather than waiting for the doc office to get around to them, then letting the doc know and then he/she gets around to calling us about them. (I don't blame the individual doctor, but the rule of the Practice.)
Over my too many years I have learned to be a Patient Advocate, for myself, for DH and others in my family. You can ask any hospital for a Patient Advocate or find one locally on line. They are willing to "fight" for you, but even if you don't have a bad situation that education will teach you how to get info you might need. Read up on Patient Advocate and learn to do the basics yourself.
FYI - DH had an appointment at Mayo Clinic for his cancer two days BEFORE our PCP got the results that sent him there. Learning to be a Patient Advocate now can be very important some day. Sometimes it is about the $$, sometimes it is about your life or someone you love.
You must be going through something to have this stress. I wish you the best. Know that my thought are with you!