To those opposed to a single-payer, national health care system.... [View All]

[Kitty Herder]

If you think that it would be less effective, less efficient, are scared of long waits to see doctors, or any of the other horrible things we hear about the health care systems in other industrial nations, please listen to my current, personal health care nightmare.

I'm sick. I have a sinus/ear infection. I've had it since December. I have no insurance. I've been to the local clinic four times and each time they send me away with an antibiotic. Each time, I start to feel a little better towards the end of the course of antibiotics, but the infection returns within days. Also, I have some other health issues (PCOS, frequent migraines, low-thyroid ) which they won't even listen to me about. I have another doctor, a primary-care physician, who is wonderful and has treated my chronic conditions in the past, but who is also expensive and hard to get an appointment with. So I decided to see her about my infection and other issues this time. I made the appointment last week. The soonest I can see her is the 22nd. It's not like she's a specialist, just a family practitioner.

Now I'm sitting here, my infection worsening, starting to get chills and fever, knowing that I'm going to have to return to the shitty local clinic as soon as they can see me.(Probably tomorrow or the next day. At least I don't have to wait forever for their inadequate treatment.) I could also go to the emergency room, but that would involve sitting in their waiting room for hours and would cost a fortune. But I'll still need to see my doctor to deal with the other issues and probably to get effective, well-considered treatment for this damned infection. So that's two appointments that I can't afford.

And guess what. My good doctor is now branching out into cosmetic surgery because it pays better, so as she spends more time doing that and less time treating the sick, she'll be even harder to get an appointment with.

So my question is, how could a European or Canadian style system be worse than this?

(I apologize for bitching and moaning, but I'm pissed off about this issue right now. I also apologize if this is a bit incoherent. I have a fever. )

Edited to add: All the other actual doctors in my area(not P.A.s or Nurse Practitioners) are just as hard to get an appointment with. (P.A.s and Nurse practitioners are just fine, but I'm sick of the ones that keep under-treating my ear/sinus infection and won't even listen to my other problems because they're too much for them.)