How much did you pay for your last doctor’s visit? A lot? Well, hopefully you had some insurance to help you out and your premium wasn’t too high.
Last year, when I graduated from college and before I worked as a sports writer for the Molalla Pioneer, I entered about six months of uninsured life. I had little to no money and a huge black cloud of debt following me around like a bad dream. The thought of shelling out around 100 dollars a month to be insured made me sick to my stomach. Sad to say being unemployed doesn’t pay a kingly salary so I wondered what I’d have to cut from my diet to be insured. I’m young, I thought, and healthy too so I’ll let it slide for a few months.
I found out quickly what was wrong with being uninsured. Suddenly I was scared in everything I did. I walked down the sidewalk like a little kid sneaking into the kitchen to steal a cookie. Every movement was slow and precise. When cold season came around, and some nasty bug flattened me out and I felt like every cell in my body was rebelling against me, instead of seeing a doctor I just waited it out. I carried Kleenex in my pockets like most people carry spare change. Good thing it wasn’t the bird flu.
Here in the Marshall Islands though, my pockets are a spare-change-only zone. It’s awesome. Everything here at the hospital costs 17 dollars. No joke, 17 bucks opens the doors wide to healing, medicine and operation. Have a runny nose with a nasty flu? Seventeen dollars later and it is all better. Broke your leg? Well, that’ll get that fixed right up for 17 bucks. Need your appendix taken out? Seventeen bucks and it’s all gravy.
When my field director told me that she was in the hospital for a week and came out with her pockets only 17 dollars lighter I was floored.
Suddenly physical injury was just momentary discomfort. I snorkeled shark-infested waters, I took up windsurfing, I gave snotty little kids high-fives – no matter what happened I had a 17 dollar angel at my side.
Now luckily I’ve only had to go to the hospital once in my time here for a skin rash. I walked into a modern building with bone chilling air-conditioning and was led through the usual paper trail and three hours of waiting; but at the end I saw a doctor, got the appropriate medicine and was on my way for – and I know you all are getting tired of this – 17 dollars.
In all of this crazy new country, where government and private citizen are still learning the best ways to work things out and infrastructure is being built from the ground up, here is this thing that makes a ton of sense.
You’re sick? Just go to the hospital.
There are a lot of times when I am in class where I feel sad for my students. I see this amazing group of young people who are so kind, smart and energetic and then I think about their future options and it doesn’t add up. It’s sad to say, but many of them will have a hard time finding work and will deal with issues like poverty for the rest of their lives. It’s almost enough to make you want to go curl up under a coconut tree and wait for the next tsunami.
Now, however, I know they have at least this one thing they can count on – access to health care.
How much did you pay for your last doctor’s visit? More than 17 bucks?
1 comment:
without insurance, being in the hospital for a little over a week and having an appendectomy for appendicitis would have costed about $25,000
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