Cyndi's Two Cents

Health care costly

Commentary.

Late Sunday afternoon I recognized the symptoms of a sinus infection coming on, so took a Mucinex before going to bed that night.  When the symptoms not only persisted but worsened as my work week began, I thought it best to be proactive.  I stopped by the nearest “urgent care” clinic Monday afternoon.  The nurse checked my blood pressure, took my temperature and recorded the symptoms.  It didn’t take long.  A couple of minutes later the doctor came in.  I told him I was getting a sinus infection.  He looked in my nose, ears and throat.  He felt my neck and listened to my heartbeat and breathing.  He prescribed 2 different cough medicines and prednisone because heaven forbid you’d give an antibiotic to a person who gets sick enough to need one maybe once a year.  The doctor spent 4 minutes with me (I know this because I timed the visit with my smartphone stopwatch.)

I received the “Explanation of Benefits” from my insurance company today.  The bill, minus pharmaceuticals, was well over $200.  I have a bad feeling that one day I’ll look back and remember this as one of the good old days when health care was inexpensive.

Despite my frustrations, I know I am blessed to live in a place where good health care is available, I have good insurance, and when I go back in a couple of days to get the antibiotic that I need to really kill this infection, it will be available at my local pharmacy.

I don’t love politics, but I do love my country and the rights I have as a citizen to have a voice.  Our forefathers turned the responsibility of this country and its people over to its people – you and me.  What an awesome gift they have given us.   What a great opportunity for us to provide a solid, and hopefully affordable, future for the next generation.

We’ve watched elected leaders walk out of some state’s and our nation’s capital in handcuffs.  We’ve seen others head off to rehab (I wonder what that costs?) which seems to be the best place to hide until things cool down a bit.  There are bad people in this world and we have elected a few of them to positions where they display poor judgment, lie, cheat, steal and/or commit unthinkable crimes.

If there was ever a time in the history of this great country when we need to take a hard look at our laws and the lawmakers, it is now.  Exorbitant health care costs will not be an easy fix, but I believe there is a better way.  When it costs $258 – nearly $2 per second – to spend 4 minutes with a doctor, something is very wrong.