I was at our local walk-in clinic the other day with my wife and we walked up to the counter, presented our insurance cards and the clerk requested the co-pay.
We promptly paid, the clerk instructed us to wait for our name and we took our seat.
As we sat down, I noticed an overweight girl, probably in her early 20's, approach the counter.
She looked very sickly, wearing old sweats, her hair was messed up and she looked slightly swollen in the face.
It was obvious she was having a bad day and was in obvious pain.
The clerk asked for her insurance card and the girl presented her pharmacy card, which until this very moment, I didn't even know there was such a thing.
The clerk informed the girl that a pharmacy card was insufficient.
So the girl left the clinic to run back to her house to grab her card.
My wife and I waited and as the girl returned, my wife was called into the clinic.
I waited in the lobby, anxious to see what was going to happen with this poor girl.
She approached the counter with her insurance card in hand, anxious to see a doctor.
The clerk then asked for the $100 co-pay.
The girl looked distraught because she obviously did not have $100.
I followed the conversation as best I could, but the gist is that the co-pay had recently gone up from $10 to $100 and the girl didn't know.
They went back and forth for about 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, my wife returned to the lobby with her prescription in hand, fully diagnosed.
So to recap, my wife was able to walk into a clinic, be seen by a doctor, receive a prescription and diagnosis, and then leave the clinic all before this girl.
The only thing that set their situations apart is that my wife had her insurance card and the co-pay, while the girl did not, despite the fact that the girl was much, much sicker than my wife.
As I watched this, I became alarmingly aware that the quality of healthcare in America will always depend on how much money you have.
It doesn't matter how sick you are or what President Obama signs into law; if you have money, you will receive great care.
If you don't, well...
good luck to you.
And in this day and age of technology, where everything is at the click of a button, why on earth would you have to have your insurance card to receive health care? How is it that the healthcare industry is lagging so far behind the rest of the world that they don't have anything automated? No electronic patient files, no electronic records and not even the ability to communicate electronically with insurance agencies to update files.
As people continue to complain about the health care plan and the effect it has on you, think about this situation and the thousands like this that happen every day across America.
If I have to pay an extra $100 a month so this girl can get a prescription for flu medicine, then so be it.
There are problems in the healthcare system and the only action that's wrong is no action.
We promptly paid, the clerk instructed us to wait for our name and we took our seat.
As we sat down, I noticed an overweight girl, probably in her early 20's, approach the counter.
She looked very sickly, wearing old sweats, her hair was messed up and she looked slightly swollen in the face.
It was obvious she was having a bad day and was in obvious pain.
The clerk asked for her insurance card and the girl presented her pharmacy card, which until this very moment, I didn't even know there was such a thing.
The clerk informed the girl that a pharmacy card was insufficient.
So the girl left the clinic to run back to her house to grab her card.
My wife and I waited and as the girl returned, my wife was called into the clinic.
I waited in the lobby, anxious to see what was going to happen with this poor girl.
She approached the counter with her insurance card in hand, anxious to see a doctor.
The clerk then asked for the $100 co-pay.
The girl looked distraught because she obviously did not have $100.
I followed the conversation as best I could, but the gist is that the co-pay had recently gone up from $10 to $100 and the girl didn't know.
They went back and forth for about 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, my wife returned to the lobby with her prescription in hand, fully diagnosed.
So to recap, my wife was able to walk into a clinic, be seen by a doctor, receive a prescription and diagnosis, and then leave the clinic all before this girl.
The only thing that set their situations apart is that my wife had her insurance card and the co-pay, while the girl did not, despite the fact that the girl was much, much sicker than my wife.
As I watched this, I became alarmingly aware that the quality of healthcare in America will always depend on how much money you have.
It doesn't matter how sick you are or what President Obama signs into law; if you have money, you will receive great care.
If you don't, well...
good luck to you.
And in this day and age of technology, where everything is at the click of a button, why on earth would you have to have your insurance card to receive health care? How is it that the healthcare industry is lagging so far behind the rest of the world that they don't have anything automated? No electronic patient files, no electronic records and not even the ability to communicate electronically with insurance agencies to update files.
As people continue to complain about the health care plan and the effect it has on you, think about this situation and the thousands like this that happen every day across America.
If I have to pay an extra $100 a month so this girl can get a prescription for flu medicine, then so be it.
There are problems in the healthcare system and the only action that's wrong is no action.
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