3.17.2008
medical
After K's bike crash and ER visit a couple weeks ago, and the hour or so I spent frantically searching the Internet for the best (read: cheapest) way to get him emergency care, I decided that I should know this stuff for myself ahead of time. It's truly pathetic that figuring out which hospital to go to in an emergency is a financial decision. Americans don't know any other system and so many think it's great the way it is but it is so deeply flawed in so many (not just financial) ways. You have to have not lived within the constraints of such a system to understand. The belief that Canadian universal health care means shitty doctors, long lines, and waiting lists is absolute rubbish. Your HMO system is far more inefficient and ineffective. These are myths about universal healthcare that the right wing conservatives in your country make up to maintain the status quo everyone-fend-for-yourself American system.
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3 comments:
Totally understand your viewpoint, having (like you) lived in (Greater) Vancouver, the Bay Area, and spent some time in Seattle. Well, except that perhaps I didn't have any really terrible experiences with HMOs -- I went with the PPO plan instead, because I'd heard horror stories.
Question is, how did you decide upon that one hospital over the others? Maybe your local readers would benefit from understanding the rationale.
Side story: flash to a scene of me doubled over on a Sunday morning at 2am, in the pain of having my appendix complain about its existence in my body. My parents happened to be visiting, and there's my dad (also having heard stories of the American "health care" system), demanding I pull out all my healthcare books and plans, and a list of hospitals so that he can study them and pick a hospital to go with. If there were ever a time I wanted to deck him ...
heh I did what your dad did but online. Just search for the name and plan of your health insurance e.g. Blue Cross PPO Saver (my old plan when I paid for it myself) and they should have a grid or onepager that says the amount of coverage for each service (after X deductible if any). Usually there is a column for the "out of network" pricing and there should be a footnote or list somewhere as to which clinics count as in-network and which would, by default be considered out of network, ie not covered much if at all.
cool... yeah, friend of a friend ended up in the emergency room last week. had to stay overnight and everything. i was/am definitely worried about how much it is going to cost.
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