Another thing to keep in mind with doctors, it's easy but can be forgettable, is let them know your situation financially/insurance/etc. wise and many can be flexible. There's a cost built in for them to work with insurance that they'll often work with patients who can only pay "cash" on a discount because it's simpler to do in terms of paperwork.
Not saying there aren't doctors who want the most money and will set up barriers, but it's like anything, there's ones who just want to help ya out and will accommodate you. Especially if you're not a problem patient in the meaning of causing headaches on stuff.
This can also help when it comes prescription time if need be, they'll often know the general cost of drugs and will look for generics and cheaper ones to try first. Sometimes that might not work out but if you take the time to explain that it's too costly for you there are often similar ones they might be able to switch you to.
I don't want to pretend there aren't burdens, especially financially, but for a lot of routine care there are a number of ways to help keep costs reasonable. To use myself as an example, and I know I've been blessed situation-wise, but I don't have insurance for drugs (or much at all regarding mental health actually) and with these various steps and those discount networks the costs have been only like $30-35 a month. I know not everyone can afford that or it can sometimes be tight but I myself thought it more daunting that it turned out to be for me after I started poking around just a little bit.
If it feels too daunting looking at things you can always just step back a bit and plus, as Esch has already done, you can always ask us to help look up stuff. I know until I started looking I didn't really comprehend how many options there are for someone like me, and I don't even live in a big ol city let alone a megalopolis.
