I just heard on the news (granted it was local news, so I’m taking this with a grain of salt) that two-thirds of Americans want to do away with the Affordable Care Act. I’m guessing this is probably inaccurate because if you break down the parts of “Obamacare” for people and then ask them about it, they usually think it’s a grand idea. Americans are nothing if not uninformed and reactionary.
But to everyone who still thinks it’s a bad idea, I have this to say — if only I could tattoo something on your person to distinguish you from the rest of us and let people like my husband (who has to take care of your sorry ass at the emergency room) kick you to the curb when you come to his doorstep because you decided to opt out of the plan, then trust me — I would. But I can’t. It’s logistically impossible. So instead, he has to continue to deal with you.
He has to continue to hear about how much you hate the system and then still use it incorrectly. How you come in for your sniffles and chronic illnesses and jam the place up when people with real emergencies are waiting. And then listen to you complain the loudest because your wait was so long.
Then he has to give you antibiotics for your sinus infections or your kid’s ear pain — even though it’s a virus — because explaining that to you would be like talking to a frickin’ brick wall. And you’ll no doubt be the asshole who complains to management because the doctor “didn’t give me what I wanted.” And since we’ve all been suckered into letting the medical system be run by pencil pushers and money-grubbing CEO’s who know absolutely zero about medicine, now hospitals are all about “patient satisfaction” and “length of stay” and “coding guidelines.” So my husband — the guy who’s supposed to do what’s best for you — could actually lose his job for doing his job.
So while I would LOVE to have a system where there could be an “opt in” for those of us who want single-payor, cover-everyone, rein-in-the-spending, get-back-to-basics medicine, and an “opt out” for the rest of you who want to be “free,” I know that can’t ever happen. Because unfortunately, we live in a country where my husband is required to take care of you. Required. Even if you’re a complete ass hat who won’t listen to reason. And who hates every idea that comes from the president just because he’s a democrat/black/thinks gay people shouldn’t be sent to an island. And who lives in some la-la land where you’re under the illusion that we’re all not already paying for your sorry ass to go to E.R. for a cold.
So if you’d like to work on a new bill and some fantastical plan that allows him to leave you on the curb while you’re bleeding to death after a car wreck or racked with chest pain during a heart attack, then please, please, be my guest. I’m sure he’d be more than happy to have the chance to opt out of seeing you if he could. Especially when you come in at 2 a.m. for your ingrown toenail.
Tammy Soong is a writer, wife, and mom from Reno, Nevada. She takes an absurd amount of pain medication, but not enough to have actually named her children "Newt" and "Elfie." She spends most days stressing out over clutter, writing stuff for this place, and working on podcasts with her gal pals, the Blogging Betties.
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My recent post The power of paranoia
I was SO cranky last night. I'm surprised this didn't come out worse.
I remember being in college (State school) with no healthcare…cause back then my Mom's insurance dropped me at 20, before Obama passed that little law helping out the students. I was have debilitating migraines to the point that sleep was even impossible. I'd just crawl up in a ball and rock and cry. The only thing I had was the campus clinic. While it was an awesome clinic, they had a hard time understanding that my migraines were not caused by some STD, because I was sexually active, with my boyfriend (now husband) of 3 years….neither of us had had any other partners…EVER. And I was on the pill, which btw, I got at a reduced rate through the clinic. I was only paying $5 a month! And get this you could pick up free condoms in a bowl by the door at any time. So according to some of the same people against Obamacare, I was a total slut, who was family planning and working my way through college on their dime. Not one penny was financial aide and not one penny did my parents pay. I paid for my entire degree on my own…including my Masters. I could not afford healthcare and had to scrape my pennys together to buy a major medical insurance. It cost so much I couldn't afford books that semester. But I was having these migraines. So the clinic ran every test imaginable, well, blood tests, cause they didn't have anything else. It showed my liver enzymes were skyrocketed. But that was probably caused by my massive quantities of Motrin to try and stave off the headaches. They thought I was 'stressed' out so put my on Zanex…nope I still had the migraines, but they helped me sleep, even if I had the headaches in my sleep. Turns out the solution was simple, I had had a fall months earlier, by some fluke, a co-worker at one of my two jobs was a licensed Chiropractor…she adjusted me for free and the migraines went away. The clinic at my school also had a chiropractic clinic where you were adjusted by final year students…After a year of going twice a week, the headaches were gone completely. But that wasn't before I was scared witless that I had some sort of disease. My liver was failing, and according to the doctors, they couldn't believe, despite blood test after blood test, I didn't have an STD…cause you know, I'm a whore. If something was truly really wrong, well too bad, I didn't have the money to pay for care and my parents def. didn't.
When I was 28, I changed jobs for a much better job. However, back then we had NO Obamacare. And, as was common back then (because, remember, I am really, really old, so this was about 1984), I had to be at my new job 90 days to be covered by insurance, but immediately lost my old insurance the day I left my old job.
Wouldn't you know, about 60 days into my new job, I was suddenly doubled over in pain one night at work, praying for it to be bad gas and not my appendix. As it turned out, it was neither, but an ovarian cyst. I spent a long weekend in the hospital on IV antibiotics to handle my sky-high white count, and went home to return the day after my insurance kicked in 30 days later so I could have the cyst (and, sadly, the ovary and tube that had been destroyed by endometriosis) removed.
The total cost of hospital and doctors for the two and a half days was just under $2800-at the time, about three months' pay. I had to apply for public assistance. I spent three hours waiting at the welfare office in a room full of moms trying to corral very bored little kids who were trying to find ways to occupy themselves, and being treated like crap by the holier than thou receptionist who clearly had never had sex, because she thought children came out of thin air just to make her life miserable. All I could do was thank God I didn't have to handle a couple of kids in that toxic place, on top of the continuing pain in my gut.
To her credit, the actual social worker couldn't have been nicer. i was able to get a little bit of help with my medical bills. In the meantime, I'd made small payments to the doctors and hospital. I had to go to each of them and get them to sign some kind of paper to prove I had paid them, so the money would count against my deductible for the public assistance.
The surgeon the ER had first called in, assuming from the pain & high white count that it was indeed the appendix, couldn't have been nicer. And he was smart enough to do the ultrasound that found the cyst. (Turned out the white count was due to an unrelated kidney infection.)
His office receptionist, though, was a royal bitch. When I asked her to verify the form, she literally sniffed and made some comment about how I "should get a job."
Restraining myself from punching her in the face, I said, "I HAVE a full-time job; I just haven't been there long enough to be on insurance."
I am still a little angry with myself for bothering to acknowledge her meanness and pettiness, but I was a lot younger and slightly less cranky then.
People who have never had a serious illness or injury while uninsured have no clue. I didn't even mention that I lived in fear for a year that my new insurance company would find out I'd already been to a doctor because of the cyst and would say I had a "pre-existing condition" and charge me back for the ovarian surgery.
P.S. Obamacare bears a striking resemblance to the Massachusetts plan instituted by–wait for it–Governor Mitt Romney. Huh. What a coincidence…
I always love your post! Now, with this question don't throw me in one corner or the other. It is our responsibility to care for the orphans and widows.
Here's my question. All the hodes of people misusing our present healthcare system– Do they even care about a healthcare system when the disfuctional one that's in place handles all their needs?
My recent post Invisible Children
There's nothing worse than being in terrible pain and then being afraid that no one is going to help you get OUT of the terrible pain. It makes it all 100 times worse. That's an awful story.
And NOW we're probably going to be back to the whole pre-existing condition dealio. You and I are totally screwed.
"Get a job." That's just classic.
No one puts Dannie in the corner! (that's my really bad Dirty Dancing joke). To try to answer your question, I think people have become accustomed to using the ER as a primary care quick clinic because 1) sometimes it's the only thing available due to the shortage of primary care physicians, 2) without access to affordable insurance, it's their only choice, 3) Americans think everything should work like McDonald's and don't understand why they should have to wait for anything. But I think the majority of people, once they get to the point where they really need medical care in a serious way (and almost everybody does), they start to care about the healthcare system. Of course, by then, it's too late. They're too old or sick to fight about it. They're just busy keeping their heads above water. And then they learn that our current system — that they were using so improperly — actually WASN'T handling all their needs. It's what happens when people don't care and don't pay attention.