The Difference Between Primary Care & General Practitioners

Are you feeling overwhelmed by the thought of searching for a doctor and unsure which type of physician best suits your needs? Before embarking on this journey, it’s crucial to consider the different types of health care available, and assess your current health requirements. For instance, it’s important to understand the difference between a primary care physician and a general practitioner. 

What is A Primary Care Physician?

If you enjoy excellent health, you may feel drawn toward a conventional primary care physician. A primary care doctor can help maintain basic needs such as checking your blood pressure, monitoring your weight, and other rudimentary concerns. 

The downside? “Primary Care Physician” is a health insurance term to help you find the person who fits your insurance plan. Today, patients are diagnosed and treated according to insurance policies and regulations. At medical school, instead of learning about healing, many medical students learn about pharmaceutical drugs (which is not surprising, as pharmaceutical companies often fund medical schools and their curricula). 

Sadly, while there are many caring and sincere conventional doctors, they are often forced to play a game of lining up symptoms with drugs — “A pill for an ill.” Their hands are tied. They are not free to search for underlying causes or able to bring real healing. 

More and more people need help to find optimal health, and their conventional primary care doctors offer limited solutions. After seemingly endless tests and blood work, you might be simply given a referral, a bottle of pills, and instructions to eat less cholesterol.

What is a General Practitioner?

A general practitioner strives for more when it comes to your overall wellness. Because we are not limited by health insurance regulations, general practitioners, especially those in the field of naturopathic medicine, are free to focus on genuine healing, wellness, and optimal health. Even if you feel great and don’t think you need much medical care, you might be amazed by the contrast between just getting by and feeling fantastic. 

If you struggle with bad health, a general practitioner will do whatever it takes to get you back on the path to feeling your best. With their expertise and dedication, general practitioners are usually committed to helping you regain your vitality and enjoy life to its fullest, without the burdens of pre-existing conditions and approval requests.

Are you suffering from chronic or mysterious health complaints that never go away? 

Are you convinced that something is wrong with your body but unable to find answers? 

Find Real Healing

Many people are frustrated and confused, facing an overcrowded medicine cabinet yet feeling physically worse than ever.

Some people do find symptom relief through pharmaceutical drugs — which can be a gift. Sadly, all too often, these drugs only mask symptoms with a bandaid while simultaneously wreaking even more havoc on the body. This can create increasing health problems down the road as your dependence on drugs only grows. 

As they age, people play a “best-odds” game of negotiation with their bodies, managing drugs while never really finding healing. People are growing dissatisfied with this answer. 

Did you know that your body was powerfully designed to heal itself?

How have we reached the point where health care often harms the body instead of healing it? 

Re-imagining Healthcare

Our framework for conventional healthcare has been so hardwired into us that we often don’t consider how much of a broader vision healthcare can be. At Mountain View Vital Medicine, Dr. Jason Kinley, ND, VNMI, is a general practitioner in the fullest sense – your family doc – dedicated to helping you reach optimal health. 

We believe that health is a lifestyle, not a product.

For us, healthcare begins not with insurance companies but with the body itself. We fight to find out what’s wrong and bring true healing from the inside out — not symptom masking.

Do you need a general practitioner instead of a primary care doctor?  

It may surprise you that we do not consider our services to be “alternative medicine.” Why? We offer original healthcare that has existed for centuries – only modernized. We are not against conventional medicine. Sometimes you need the emergency room! But it is more helpful to consider conventional medicine as the “alternative.”  

“Contrary to popular belief, naturopaths aren’t the alternative to conventional care. We are the ORIGINAL form of care, and conventional methods are the alternative to what we offer.”

Dr. Jason Kinley, ND, VNMI

Interested in learning How we can Help You? 

We care about you, the patient! Dr. Jason Kinley will not simply look at a list of symptoms but will do a full body assessment. The body works together as a whole and is not merely a jumble of separate parts and symptoms. It may look different than what you’re used to, but we are results-oriented and have a high success rate. 
Call our office, and let’s talk about how we can help you feel your best today!