Health care
I now have health care.
In fact, I went to the doctor's office today. And got four medicines. My copay was $15, and my medicines, combined, cost me $53 dollars. I was not too bothered by the cost, really, because all I could think was "Wow. I'm seeing a REAL doctor." And, while paying for the meds, "When I had to pay for these out-of-pocket, ONE of the two inhalers I now have cost me more than all four of these combined."
See, for the past eight years, my doctors have been either the ER or a crappy community clinic (where, as I told the nurse today, you really get what you pay for and nothing more). I've had to beg my old doctor (at the community clinic - she was a PA, actually) to give me asthma medication because, gee, I really like breathing. Today, all I had to say was "I'm kind of running low on albuterol. If you could give me another one, that would be nice, but I understand if you can't and I have to come back another time for that." The doc's response? "No, I'll give you another one. Are you supposed to be on any others?" And just like that, WHAM, I now have both my rescue inhaler and the steroid-for-long-term inhaler. He also gave me azithromycin, for an ear problem I've been having. I just had to say "I've found that amoxicillin and penicillin don't really work on me anymore. However, I have chronic ear infections and find that azithromycin seems to work really well for that." The old doc's response? "Well, I'd like to try amoxocillin/penicillin anyway, because that's the prescribed method for treating an ear infection." As if I don't know my own body's response. Seriously, that shit hasn't worked on me for YEARS. The new doc? "Ok... I'll give you azithromycin." Going to the clinic was an exercise in futility and I was highly likely to get sick going there as people generally only showed up when they were fairly sick and brought along their umpteen kids with them, half of whom were also sick.
If you've never been without health insurance, or have, but maybe not had health problems, you have no idea what it's like. There have been times where I've been literally struggling to breathe, and getting frustrated because I know most of my problems are manageable with adequate health care. Life is hard enough... it shouldn't be made worse by subpar health care.
Sure, I paid $68 for one doctor's visit (and the resulting medicines) today. But I was grateful to do it.
In fact, I went to the doctor's office today. And got four medicines. My copay was $15, and my medicines, combined, cost me $53 dollars. I was not too bothered by the cost, really, because all I could think was "Wow. I'm seeing a REAL doctor." And, while paying for the meds, "When I had to pay for these out-of-pocket, ONE of the two inhalers I now have cost me more than all four of these combined."
See, for the past eight years, my doctors have been either the ER or a crappy community clinic (where, as I told the nurse today, you really get what you pay for and nothing more). I've had to beg my old doctor (at the community clinic - she was a PA, actually) to give me asthma medication because, gee, I really like breathing. Today, all I had to say was "I'm kind of running low on albuterol. If you could give me another one, that would be nice, but I understand if you can't and I have to come back another time for that." The doc's response? "No, I'll give you another one. Are you supposed to be on any others?" And just like that, WHAM, I now have both my rescue inhaler and the steroid-for-long-term inhaler. He also gave me azithromycin, for an ear problem I've been having. I just had to say "I've found that amoxicillin and penicillin don't really work on me anymore. However, I have chronic ear infections and find that azithromycin seems to work really well for that." The old doc's response? "Well, I'd like to try amoxocillin/penicillin anyway, because that's the prescribed method for treating an ear infection." As if I don't know my own body's response. Seriously, that shit hasn't worked on me for YEARS. The new doc? "Ok... I'll give you azithromycin." Going to the clinic was an exercise in futility and I was highly likely to get sick going there as people generally only showed up when they were fairly sick and brought along their umpteen kids with them, half of whom were also sick.
If you've never been without health insurance, or have, but maybe not had health problems, you have no idea what it's like. There have been times where I've been literally struggling to breathe, and getting frustrated because I know most of my problems are manageable with adequate health care. Life is hard enough... it shouldn't be made worse by subpar health care.
Sure, I paid $68 for one doctor's visit (and the resulting medicines) today. But I was grateful to do it.
posted by Misa at
7:53 PM
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