So I just spent 5 hours being given the run around, trying to get a refill to my painkillers for my kidney stone. The first hour and a half was spent at Lexington Clinic where I was finally told they couldn't help me and they I should go to the ER at the hospital up the road.
So I went. And after waiting for almost an hour, finally saw a doctor, explained my situation, and was told he'd be right back. 3 hours later I finally have my prescription, a finished book, and lines on my face from falling asleep in the exam room. Rediculous.
It did get me thinking though how good/bad we have it here in America when it comes to healthcare. I recently just got health insurance through school, but for the last 5 years, had none. Thank God I never got sick in those 5 years.
Here in America we have all sorts of healthcare, some of the very best in the world, available to us and yet, so many of us cannot afford what we need because health insurance is so expensive. And health insurance is so expensive because the medical profession charges so much. And they charge so much because they can. And we pay it because our health insurance covers it. It's a viscious cycle.
And it makes me sick(pun?).
During my three hour layover in St. Joseph Hospital Emergency Room, I started thinking about the third world. My mind often wanders there. I remember being scared to death that I might have to go to the doctor in Guatemala because I wasn't sure how safe a doctor there would be. Yet that is all they have.
Have you every seen The Constant Gardener? It's about drug companies using third world citizens, namely in Africa, as test subjects for new medicines. You should check it out.
I just wonder sometimes if we as the church are really loving our neighbors as Jesus has called us to. To be more honest, I wonder if I am loving my neighbors as God has called me to.
I've been thinking about AIDS in Africa alot lately, and how me, a seminary student in podunk Kentucky can help. I can't call out the church anymore until I am following God's call myself. Right? Right.
peace out,
hersch
2 comments:
Two other things that make healthcare so ridiculously expensive: 1. people going to the doctor every time they sneeze, feel a little nausious, or have a butt itch. 2. people suing any time it might seem the slightest bit plausible that they could win a small settlement.
I feel for you having to wait forever for your prescription, but I don't think any of us can imagine how bad it is even for poor people in our own country. Though many have government healthcare (which is a blessing, I'm sure) they often get treated as second class citizens. When I was in Memphis I heard about a study that was done comparing people on TENNCare to people w/their own insurance and it was really sad. Though the TENNCare recipients had some form of healthcare, they had to wait forever, were often dismissed even when they had serious illnesses, etc.
yeah Tenncare is bad....learned lots about it through social work classes at bethel....so I did learn something...
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