Socialized Medicine
So, I've been hearing a lot about Obama wanting to socialize medicine... And then I hear all kinds of horror stories therein about socialized anything...
I woke up this morning with double-vision and dizzyness... I'm still not sure what caused it, but since it could be the sign of a stroke or something, I went to the local clinic.
Where the only doctor in town that speaks English saw me in 11 minutes, checked my eye response and other things (Blood pressure, etc) diagnosed my problems as related to sleep deprivation and fatigue (I do suffer from bad insomnia), gave me a shot of something (I don't know what, but only because I really don't know what the nurses were saying, they were talking in medical Japanese... something I haven't really studied too much....), gave me a prescription for medication that I needed to take for the next 7 days (Yeah, I have no idea what that is, either), rest, told me to lay off TV and video games for a while (Easy enough :D) and sent me on my way.
The entire trip took 1 hour, cost $35.00 (Another $15.00 if you count in the strange blue pills), was filled with some interesting anecdotes about my life in this city of mine... and the hospital was within walking distance (Which is great, since I really didn't trust myself to drive while dizzy)...
So... what's wrong with Socialized medicine?
Right, it's bad for the industry...
So, in America I have to wait a day (I never got in to see the doctor on the day I had a problem. There were times the problem had worked itself out BEFORE I got in to see the doctor), I pay $100 for the office visit and $50 for the medicine for this problem... heaven help me if I have a worse problem (My Flu test last year cost me $110... I can't imagine what it would have cost me in America!). My mother stopped going to the doctor when she realized she really couldn't pay her medical expenses... That turned out well.
Well, okay... so I'm glad we are fighting against this... At least the industry is good to go!
As for me, well... I don't know what has caused the problem, it's better now, but I still have trouble focusing my eyes on things and it feels like I have the flu (That, strange disconnected-head feeling). And I have to do Kindergarten tomorrow... If I'm still dizzy, This'll be really fun.
Mal... I'd love to hear from you on this one; Why are we afraid of socialized medicine?
Labels: Japan
posted by Aabh @ 8:56 PM
8 Comments:
Good question, Guy. But perhaps you should ask that question of some Americans that you know?
I have no clue. All I know is that you guys are one of the countries that uses a big chunk of your GDP on healthcare costs, and yet have some of the poorest outcomes of industrialized countries.
Even though we are socialized and spend less, Canada still does not have the best outcomes out there, but at least we have a way better infant mortality rate than the US (amongst other things).
I think that France and Japan ranked up there in terms of "the bang for their buck".
I'll tell you one thing though... At the end of residency, Franke and I considered moving down to the US. We looked at a few little towns. One little town had this beautiful hospital. State of the art everything. Glass windows from ceiling to floor. Absolutely impeccable. It had been build with private money only 2 or 3 years ago.
All the doctors that practice in that town lived on a mountain with green, lush lawns. Huge mansions. All the latest gadgets and toys.
Problem was, this was the middle of the desert (in Utah). How did they get such green grass to grow?
Then you looked down the mountain and saw the town. I wouldn't even call it a town. I'd call it a slum. Delapidated houses everywhere. Dirt and rocks and dust. The hospital was almost an eye-sore surrounded by all these tiny houses with boarded up windows that no one had bothered to replace.
When I started seeing those things (mind you, no one bothered to show me the town, all I officially saw was the hospital and mansions. It was only once we started driving around on our own, waiting for the big fancy supper that I saw what I saw), I decided that this was not the place for me.
When I started backing out, only more money was thrown my way. I guess that this worked on the other doctors. The draw to get me to work there were my XX chromosomes.
I think that, to this day, the administrators and other docs in that town would not comprehend why I would pass up the opportunity to make close to half a million dollars, while at the bottom of the mountain looked as though they were starving.
But Franke understood, and so we looked for opportunities in Canada.
Franke would love to go back to the US if the opportunity presents itself. I am not so sure that we ever will. My Dad-in-law, who is a social worker by trade and hence probably the one in the family who "gets me" the best, said once that he would be surprised if my conscience would ever allow me to practice medicine in the US.
So, while I do not know why you guys are afraid of socialized medicine, and while I bitch on a regular basis about the system up here...I am way more scared of your American quality-deficient, industry-driven medicine than the system we have up here.
Here's my question to you: how do American doctors exactly interpret the Hippocratic Oath? Or do you guys no longer recite it at the end of medical school?
...Whatever houses I may visit, I will come for the benefit of the sick, remaining free of all intentional injustice...
The problem I have with the Healthcare Industry in the US is that it is run by the Insurance Industry. If it isn't profitable for the HMO, or if it looks like it will eat into shareholder dividends...
But really, Guy has a much more colorful way to describe the whole insurance industry/racket system we have here in the US.
I'm one American who would love to see a national health care system more like the countries discussed here, and have no problem with the notion of socialized medicine.
But I'll play Devil's Advocate here for a moment...
Why be afraid of socialized medicine in America? Have you SEEN the way our government has been running things this decade? Would you want THOSE people running your national health care to presumably the same degree of success/efficiency?
Dr. Heimlich (and Guy),
Did you guys happen to catch that interview with Biden, where the reporter asked him how Obama's plan is different from Marx' "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need"?
Did you guys see how strong of a response this got? The simple intonation that this was perhaps what Obama was proposing to some extent?
I think that the public's (and Biden's) response right there shows you why the US is not ready for socialized medicine. Socialized medicine means that I, as a healthy person, pay taxes that pay for someone else's cancer treatment, or (worse! *gasp*) their recovery treatment from a drug addiction that they created themselves.
When you tell me that Americans (as a whole society, I am NOT talking about individuals) are willing to pay for these things and not grumble about it, when they are ready to help others without thinking of how much it is costing them or how they aren't getting anything in return...that's when the US will be ready for a socialized system.
And Dr. Heimlich, hate to burst the bubble, but on the medical world stage, the US medical system is neither considered efficient NOR successful. Sorry.
Mal.
Actually -I can't believe I'm doign this- I agree with you, Mal (Oh... I almost hurt myself just SAYING that ;p). I think you are absolutely right, this has everything to do with greed. What's in it for me? What will I get out of it? Hmmm...
Wow, that is scary. Maybe you are finally become "older and wiser", Guy? ;-)
-- Mal.
Does this mean you are already "Old" my dear? ;D
Yeah... I'm running for my life...
Oh, I turned old the day I turned 30. Some of us only get better with age, and I am one of those people! :-)
-- Mal.
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