pigs, doctors & the rest of the world

This past week, I have been OUT. I caught the swine flu I had mocked so much... "Oh, shut up about it! It's just the flu! Why is everyone freaking out about the FLU!?" Eric suggested it was karma, and that he was going to be pretty ticked if my karma got him sick! But I digress...

For the first time in a while, I was face-to-face with our nation's healthcare system. Insurance companies. Doctors. And so on.

I will start by saying that we are extremely blessed by the healthcare options afforded to us by the government. Not only do we have good insurance, but we also have the ability to CHOOSE which insurance company (and even which plan within that company) that we sign on for, depending on our family's needs and what we're willing to pay for insurance wise vs. healthcare wise. We also have the option of having a healthcare flexible spending account, which we do take advantage of. Thank you, U.S. Government, you have done good things for my family! This week, however, I was not wowed by our nation's healthcare system.

I got sick on Monday and by Wednesday it was obvious to Eric that I might want to consider seeing a doctor. Since we just moved to a new area, I didn't have a general physician yet so he went to our insurance company's trusty online tool for finding a doctor in our area.

None of them could see me until December. "But my wife is really sick?!" "Ok... we can't see her until December."

So we ended up going to an urgent care center. Of course, the co-pay for that is $75, as opposed to the $20 I would have paid at the "regular" doctor. I waited, felt guilty for not sanitizing everything I touched, and got in to see the nurse followed by the doctor.

Both asked for my symptoms separately. The doctor was actually reading from the list I'd given to the nurse as I told him and I was slightly nervous that this was actually a test and if I forgot one, I'd be sent back to the waiting room. He did some medical checking me over stuff, confirmed that I had H1N1, expressed that he wished they could get a real read at my temperature (I'd taken tylenol before coming because without tylenol I. could. not. function. at that point) and told me he'd give me Tamiflu. Being of slightly sound mind at the time, I then asked if Tamiflu was safe to take while nursing. The doctor looked confused. Uh oh. I confused the doctor. So, he left the room for a few minutes. He came back and basically told me he didn't know if I could take it while I was nursing so he wasn't going to prescribe it to me. (My husband later sent a facebook message to a high school classmate of ours who is now a pediatrician. She said the Tamiflu would have been fine, that there are even dosing regulations for babies so even if it went into my milk it wouldn't have harmed my nursing infant.) Instead, he was giving me a prescription for an antibiotic that he would like me to NOT fill because I didn't need an antibiotic. But I could have it for just in case. Now that sounds like sound medical advice if I've ever heard it.

I left the office having spent $75 to go back home and continue to sleep, take tylenol, drink fluids, and not fill a prescription. That's what I did and here I am three days later, in one piece and still asserting that H1N1 is just the flu - a really long, achy, feverish, awful flu - but just the flu, all the same.

All of this to say, my experience got me thinking about the healthcare system so many are fighting (and for good reasons - I mean that sincerely) to keep safe. When I look at the excellent insurance that we have and the good doctors who are surely surrounding me then I look at what crap I get out of it sometimes, I think... Could trying something a bit different be SO bad? Then I think of all the people in this country who don't even have any insurance to get crap out of and I think... Could trying something a bit different MAYBE - just MAYBE - do some good? I don't know. Healthcare is really one of those things where I can understand many different sides. I guess I just wish more people would take that approach to it, though, and try to see the other sides of the argument rather than being so set on their side that they can't see logic, reason, or (more importantly) humanity.