Conscientious Objector to The Man (or At Least U.S. Health Care)
Anyone who has talked to me, much less seen me, in the last week has known this: I look and feel like crap.
A week ago I caught a horrible cold from husband that I usually elude every winter. For a girl with a permanently low white blood cell count, I am amazingly stealth at avoiding sickness. Not so lucky this time.
Husbands Experience: a plugged nose, a few coughs, sleepy for three days.
I got sick about a week ago which started out with me crawling to bed one night around 8:30. I kept expecting to wake up and have it be gone, like it was for Jff. Well, not so. Maybe I was being punished for doing Yoga Thursday with the bug, playing frisbee Friday, doing aerobics on Saturday, and broomball on Sunday, either way by Sunday night it was a TKO. I didn't even go to school yesterday, and last night I got about 5 hours of sleep- while I wasn't coughing myself silly. Today I taught while coughing every 3 seconds. At the end of the hour the kids were telling me they were sick of listening to me hack. Yeah, I know.
While talking to me on the phone for five minutes today, husband pointed out that I made an amalgamation of sounds- sniffing, coughing, sneezing, snorting, and so fourth. Lovely.
So I finally decided to go to the doctor. Fine. Yes, I have an infection, yes I have bronchial asthma, yes, I need antibiotics and TWO inhalers? After trying to clarify with his broken English, (although his pronunciation of wheezing was more like what you say on a swing when you are little WHEEEEEEEE with a ZG at the end), I got no where. I decided to stop asking questions and get out. That was my mistake.
At the pharmacy, while I am paying for ONE inhaler (I picked with the pharmacist) and my antibiotics, I notice the bill alone for my antibiotics is $25. Not a big deal, but for ten pills, when it usually is $11 copay through my insurance, I ask.
Turns out the doctor prescribed me the newest antibiotic that doesn't have a generic version. He probably saw me right after his fancy "info" lunch with the prescription company rep. Nice. So today my insurance company, me, and millions of others who are paying premiums financed a cool $135 to the company who created this new drug. All that for ten pills and a shitty cold- and of course for the fancy lunch I didn't have.
I was too tired, sick, and discouraged to turn around and repeat the process to get another kind of antibiotic. I trudged wearily home thinking about all the people that get caught in that trap. And I even know to ask questions.
I think there should be a label that says "Conscientious Objector to The Man" on my medical account that tells doctors to avoid all that bull shit and just give me the most honest thing they can. "Generics, Free-trade, Sustainable, Locally-Grown, Organics welcome - doesn't matter as long as they don't finance EVERYTHING I HATE ABOUT THE HEALTH CARE SYSTEM IN THE UNITED STATES!"
A week ago I caught a horrible cold from husband that I usually elude every winter. For a girl with a permanently low white blood cell count, I am amazingly stealth at avoiding sickness. Not so lucky this time.
Husbands Experience: a plugged nose, a few coughs, sleepy for three days.
I got sick about a week ago which started out with me crawling to bed one night around 8:30. I kept expecting to wake up and have it be gone, like it was for Jff. Well, not so. Maybe I was being punished for doing Yoga Thursday with the bug, playing frisbee Friday, doing aerobics on Saturday, and broomball on Sunday, either way by Sunday night it was a TKO. I didn't even go to school yesterday, and last night I got about 5 hours of sleep- while I wasn't coughing myself silly. Today I taught while coughing every 3 seconds. At the end of the hour the kids were telling me they were sick of listening to me hack. Yeah, I know.
While talking to me on the phone for five minutes today, husband pointed out that I made an amalgamation of sounds- sniffing, coughing, sneezing, snorting, and so fourth. Lovely.
So I finally decided to go to the doctor. Fine. Yes, I have an infection, yes I have bronchial asthma, yes, I need antibiotics and TWO inhalers? After trying to clarify with his broken English, (although his pronunciation of wheezing was more like what you say on a swing when you are little WHEEEEEEEE with a ZG at the end), I got no where. I decided to stop asking questions and get out. That was my mistake.
At the pharmacy, while I am paying for ONE inhaler (I picked with the pharmacist) and my antibiotics, I notice the bill alone for my antibiotics is $25. Not a big deal, but for ten pills, when it usually is $11 copay through my insurance, I ask.
Turns out the doctor prescribed me the newest antibiotic that doesn't have a generic version. He probably saw me right after his fancy "info" lunch with the prescription company rep. Nice. So today my insurance company, me, and millions of others who are paying premiums financed a cool $135 to the company who created this new drug. All that for ten pills and a shitty cold- and of course for the fancy lunch I didn't have.
I was too tired, sick, and discouraged to turn around and repeat the process to get another kind of antibiotic. I trudged wearily home thinking about all the people that get caught in that trap. And I even know to ask questions.
I think there should be a label that says "Conscientious Objector to The Man" on my medical account that tells doctors to avoid all that bull shit and just give me the most honest thing they can. "Generics, Free-trade, Sustainable, Locally-Grown, Organics welcome - doesn't matter as long as they don't finance EVERYTHING I HATE ABOUT THE HEALTH CARE SYSTEM IN THE UNITED STATES!"
posted by KLOU | 1:59 PM
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