Primary care doctor? One in the north, one in the south?

Deb and Ed, I'm guessing that you two are on Medicare. My husband and I drive to Florida for one or two weeks a year from SC and are now on Medicare. Years ago, my parents' next door neighbors decided to move to Tampa to be near family, and because Florida administers the health plan, they were required to become part of a State Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) which does not allow a new resident to openly choose any primary care physician; Ellie really hated that because she did a lot of research on candidates here in SC before she chose her primary care physician. Personally, I was surprised when she told me this since Medicare is a federal program, but each state seems to administer Medicare its own way. Ellie and her husband have passed on now, and possibly the Florida rules could have changed. However, since that discussion with Ellie, we vowed never to move to Florida; nice place to visit often but never spend months there if not feeling well.