Today I am thankful for the ability to hope. Specifically to hope that we will one day live more than fifty miles from an Army medical facility. Because then we will get to use civilian providers again.
Because Jooj woke up with the pink gold in both eyes.
And because we live less than fifty miles from a medical facility we have to jump through the military hoops. We might as well be in Vancouver, eh.
This is how it went down:
1. Ten minutes on hold.
2. Me: "My kid has pink eye."
3. Nurse: "Call the Central Booking and make an appointment. She needs to be seen within 24 hours."
4. Ten Minutes on hold
5. "My kid has pink eye."
6. Central Booking soldier: "We have no appointments available this week."
7. Me: "But my kid has wicked PINK EYE. I need a bottle of antibiotics. That's all. Just a prescription!"
8. Central Booking soldier who has no medical training or compassion or any damns to give: "Call the Nurse hot line and see if there is anything that they can do."
9. Fifteen minutes on hold
10. Me: "My kid has wicked bad pink eye."
11. Nurse: "Call and make an appointment."
12. Me: "I did. They said to call you."
13. Nurse: "Oh. Well then, I can authorize you to go to a civilian provider. You must go to this one, specific, Urgent Care half-an-hour away."
14. Me: "Sweet."
15. Me: "Hi, Urgent Care, my kid has wicked bad double pink eye."
16. Urgent Care: "Yup. Here is a prescription. I am doubling the dose, because you will probably get it, too, and I don't want you to have to go through this nonsense again."
17. Me: "I love you, Urgent Care. Do you need a used wife?"
SEVENTEEN STEPS. SEVENTEEN FREAKING STEPS.
But, somewhere in my heart, I have hope. Hope that one day we will just skip to step twelve. Because it is worth W commuting for easy access to civilian providers. And for all you who want socialized medicine, I hope you get pink eye.
PS I am also thankful for antibiotics. And 1/2 off Halloween candy.
Monday, November 03, 2008
"I Got Pink Eyes and Pink Super Goop in Me Pink Eyes!"
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16 comments:
I will be thankful if you don't get it too. Although, you do have the meds if you do.
I love urgent care, but just for you. (But I'm hoping you are spared nonetheless.)
My youngest developed pink eye about an hour and a half before I was supposed to get on a flight once. My clinic still made us come in to have him looked at even though I begged and pleaded for them to just call in a prescription (besides, show me any mom that doesn't recognize pink eye!) Hours later, the diagnosis: pink eye (of course).
Love those Army hospitals though. They lost my husband's medical records twice, which meant he had to get the whole gamut of shots (incl. anthrax) twice. Fun!
CKW--My husband has had the anthrax series three times. Boo. But, the plus side is that if you have had the entire anthrax series you are eligible to donate plasma and make something like $200 a donation. Because they want your Anthrax plasma. Sweet.
Pink eye has plagued our house one too many times. It's a rampant beast I tell you.
True dat on shedding some light on the problems with socialized healthcare.
Pink eye is awful. Knock on wood, we haven't had it at our house in a couple of years. I pray that it stays that way. Instead, we have the loveliness that is ADHD and pre-teen angst, all combined in one kid.
Enjoy the Halloween candy.
oh the dreaded pink eye...
i had that as a kid and my mom had to unglue my eyes like 4 times a day, it was so gross
poor jooj
poor mami
stupid army
Yuck, get well soon Jooj.
Hope mommy doesn't get it.
Sounds like Army doesn't know where to show the love at all.
Gotta say though, I'm digging some parts of socialized health care over here(mostly the A WHOLE LOT CHEAPER parts), but that is for another day.
SO sorry that Jooj has the pink wink - that totally blows! My fingers shall be crossed that it clears out fast and that she doesn't share it with her Mami :)
But because I am in a political mood today - I feel compelled to point out - if we had socialized medecina in this country you would have been able to take Jooj STRAIGHT to the Urgent Care (or wherever else she could be squeezed into the schedule) since EVERYPLACE would be part of the same system.
And as someone who has had a trip to the ER in a country with universal coverage (Ireland), let me just tell you, it was WAY better and faster in every respect than our ER's (clogged up as they are with the un-insured flu sufferers). Though, obviously NO system is perfect - it took a friend who lives in the UK for-freakin-ever to get her foot surgery!
But please don't judge socialized medicine by the red tape nightmare rendition provided by the Army! You must know better than anyone that the Army has a real knack for ruining perfectly good things by drowning them in red tape.
Ok, I voted this afternoon so I'm done with politics now for another 2 years ;)
I gotta say, everyone I know who has had access to socialized medicine has had very positive experiences. I can't say that about myself and my fellow HMO sufferers...
Oh, sorry about the army medicine. And I'm really sorry your munchkin has to live through it.
I can't tell you how many times I re-did the shots. I'd say things like, "Use some common sense, I couldn't be here unless I attended basic training. We all know EVERYONE gets shots in basic training. I was given a 5 year booster, and it's only been two years. Therefore (drumroll) my shots are current, right?" And they were still too wrapped up in red tape to agree with me...
It is not that with socialized medicine I wouldn't be able to go to anyone, but the quantity and quality of providers would go down like crazy, because doctors couldn't charge what they were worth. And then we would all be stuck waiting for an appointment at an Urgent Care. Army medicine is as close to it as I want to get--we all get treatment, regardless of anything, and it takes forever, and it all sucks. And no one gives a rat's about you or your conditions.
We looked into the anthrax plasma thing and (with the deal here anyway) you have to go a billion times and can make up to $200 or something like that. You just get paid more than the average donation each time. We aren't poor enough anymore to sell our blood.
Yen you just totally lost/confused me - how exactly would the "quantity and quality of providers go down like crazy" in a system in which EVERYONE takes part? When every doctor becomes available to every patient that somehow creates fewer and suckier doctors?
I assume I'm missing something there (and hopefully you'll fill me in) 'cause that makes no sense to me.
And from what I know of socialized medicine and Army medical coverage (though obviously I personally have not lived extensively under either (though I know many people who have), let alone under both!) - your PERFECTLY VALID grievances with Army care seem to me to be in no way related to socialized medicine as practiced in most countries that have it, and entirely related to the practices of HMO's in this country. I don't blame you for hating it - HMO's kill people with their brand of "care". But please don't pin the crapiness of the HMO style Army medical care on the tail of socialized medicine as a whole - they're fundamentally unrelated.
And just to clear the record - my only point about access (being able to take Jooj straight to the Urgent Care) was that in a country with socialized medicine you would have been able to walk directly into any clinic/doctor without calling any 'Health Access Nazis' for permission first - or being sent half way across town. Your seventeen steps would have been paired down to something more in the neighborhood of - either calling around to see who had an open appointment, or sitting for a couple hours in an Urgent Care or an ER. The massive wait times in socialized medicine are, from what I know and from what I hear, almost exclusively in the areas of scheduling procedures, and not in the areas of getting seen by your GP for an antibiotic!
But, like I said NOTHING is ever going to be perfect - and it's really a moot point since we're eons away from ever getting socialized medicine in this country - unfortunately :(
Now please quit making me think politically .. it worries my pretty little head and hurts my ovaries, LOL ;) .. Especially now - I'm all politiced out!
Sitting in an ER for pink eye is the lamest thing I have ever heard. I would rather pay out of pocket for a provider than wait in an ER. Which is what I would have done if that Urgent Care option (which is new) was not available. $75 well spent. If there had not been an appointment, my other option WOULD have been to go to the ER. Where we would have waited for at least four hours.
I think everyone should have access to medicine. I just wish that Army would let me use a Civilian provider, instead of having to go to Urgent Care as a last resort. (And the Urgent Care option is a direct result of the backlash of the poor quality that has been reported int he news lately.) If the Army is downsized, as it was during Clinton, we will go to many more civilian providers, because the Medical and Dental Corps are the first to get privatized and fired. We will see.
If we ALL had to go to Urgent Care or an ER it would suck.
I don't know how it is on other countries, except anecdotally, and most of the friends I have heard from have not been impressed.
If I were a doctor and was told "Now, the government will be paying for everyone. You may charge this much. You will still have to carry malpractice and will be able to be sued." I would quit. I would go do something that was lower risk and made more money. (Just as I did as a teacher.)
Maybe the US will have it different and get it right. We'll just have to see!
Yen, I totally adore you and I do not want this conversation to turn into an argument but I gotta say that you've still totally missed what I was saying about access - I beg you to re-read the fourth paragraph of my last comment.
I never meant to imply (and don't think I did) that we would all be sitting in Urgent Cares and ER's - I specifically mentioned that you would have been able to take Jooj straight to ANY doctor, and that the major wait associated with socialized medicine is usually in the area of scheduled procedures and not related to visits to one's GP for antibiotics.
And BTW - an ER wait in a socialized country is not like one here because ER's here are overcrowded with the uninsured. The wait would NOT be the same as here.
My one personal experience in an Irish ER took less than an hour I think - and that included waiting, being seen, and getting my breathing treatment. The decor was something out of 1982 (I guess interior design ain't high on the budget priority list, lol), and after they gave me the treatment they sort of walked off to do other more important things and probably would have left me there for hours if I hadn't gotten up and asked if I could go - once I felt better. The friend who took me over was very surprised I came out so quickly! But the actual access to the care was fabulous (as was the care).
Because I wasn't an Irish citizen a bill was eventually sent. But it was for something like 85 or 185 (don't remember now if that was Irish Pounds, Euros, or the Dollar equivalent - but it was dang cheap for an ER visit with breathing treatment (trust me, I've had my share)! :)
But my only major point through all these comments has been one thing - Army care is not anything like socialized medicine in foreign countries - the only thing we have in this country that comes close to what other countries are doing is MedicAid (and to a much lesser extent MediCare).
And just for the sake of argument - Ireland and the UK are interesting models (not sure if Canada does it or not) because they do have universal access to socialized medicine, and yet many people are also purchasing private insurance to get more bells and whistles. An Irish friend of mine pays Euro 750 a year. Which gets him a private room in any major hospital for as long as it takes, plus all specialist / consultant fees, etc. And on that plan, no FAMILY (not individual, but FAMILY) ever has to pay more than a total of Euro 85 a month for drugs.
Anyway, that's my LAST comment on this - really ;)
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