(Untitled)

[newredshoes]

Okay, when I had insurance in college, that prescription was $10.

Today? $62.45. NOT ON.

To-do:
1) Clear out the health hazard that is my kitchen sink full of dishes.
2) Acquire employment and health insurance.
3) Fix the freaking American health care system. Lame.

Comments

[ia_ne]

I love your icon so so much <3

Is that for the pill? We have compulsory health insurance over here, but birth control is not included (only if you're under 18 or if it's for health reasons). I paid roughly that amount for three months worth when I was still on it. Or maybe you're talking about something else entirely, then please ignore me :)

[newredshoes]

Dracula is the best ever!

It is! But I'd get coverage in Germany, because it is for health reasons. And this was for one month.

[ia_ne]

Wow. You will hear no complaining from me ever again! Would it be cheaper if you had a job which included health insurance? Or would it be the same amount?

[newredshoes]

It would be much cheaper if I had health insurance. After having worked for a huge health care advocacy organization for ten months, I cannot even begin to convey how fucked the American health care system is. It's too expensive to train to become a doctor, it's too expensive to be a doctor, doctors can't treat patients who can't pay them, we don't have enough general practitioners, we don't have enough nurses, we don't have enough doctors period, doctors spend too much time on paperwork, doctors can't keep up with malpractice insurance, insurance companies are screwing over doctors and patients, 46 million Americans don't have health insurance, millions more have subpar or barely functional coverage, pharmaceutical companies charge too much for medication, drug makers push doctors to endorse products... it's a clusterfuck.

[ia_ne]

46 million, that's crazy

[newredshoes]

It used to be 47; I think a bunch of states made state health care more affordable in the past year. I'm honestly not sure how it happened, but everything seems to feed into everything else, so if you fix one thing, there are still eighteen other aspects that are just as huge and just as urgent. It's a hydra-headed problem.

There was a push in 1994 for universal health coverage -- that was Hillary Clinton's big thing as first lady when Bill first got into office -- but that turned into... I don't even know. But it failed, and people still talk about how badly that bombed. Obama's talking about it as a central pillar of economic reform, so hopefully something productive will happen soon.

[vidavluz]

Doctors actually often do see patients who can't pay them. It's kinda the only decent thing to do, ya know? But if they have to prescribe meds or run tests... then there's a problem, because it's not the doctor who's doing the charging.

The pediatrician I followed around last year had a great way of dealing with the paperwork. He used to have me start one patient's interview and exam while he finished up the paperwork on the previous patient. It was great--he got all that annoying stuff done and I got to practice actual patient-interaction skills. Then he'd come in and ask all the questions I forgot and fix any mess I might have started. It was great, and the patients still got good care. And, um, that's my story.

[newredshoes]

That was badly worded! I meant something more along the lines of how hard it is to absorb costs when reimbursement is so borked. You definitely, definitely know more about this than I do.

[vidavluz]

I am pretty sure that from your job you know it better than I do. I just know a lot of the stuff on the level of what actual physicians (and PAs and nurses and all those cool people) are doing. Plus, I'm in MA so stuff is really different than the rest of the country. Theoretically, everyone here is covered. Emphasis on heoretically.

[eudaimon]

See, birth control is free here as long as it's for contraception, NOT health reasons.

So I tell lies :b

[newredshoes]

Ahaha, let's not even get into American attitudes toward birth control. People in this country are morons about reproductive rights, if you haven't noticed. (In some places, pharmacists have the right to not dispense it if they don't agree with it! I just. My head hurts.)

[cajun_chick411]

*Goes to school in one of those places*

I have nearly punched the Oberlin CVS pharmacy worker SEVERAL TIMES.