"And no, there are no long wait times for care in Canada. You know how I know this? I asked a Canadian...."

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Some random musings on our current health care.....er.....system.

A facebook friend of mine posted a picture this morning of a Geisinger Hospital ER waiting room. He had plenty of time to do this, since he had been waiting in there for 4 hours, and is, as far as I know, waiting there still. Or perhaps his name was called and he's now laying on a gurney in the hallway, because there are no beds. Geisinger, you may recall, issued their highly publicized "30 minute pledge" some years ago. That pledge was surely kicked in the nuts during a global pandemic, and is seemingly a thing of the past.

I don't know why he was there. He didn't say. I presume it was not life threatening. But even if it was for a hang-nail, 4 hours is absolutely outrageous. Four hours is "shithole country" territory. The guy could have driven to Canada, gotten treatment, and be sitting in a Tim Horton's right now eating lunch.

We have almost no options. First off......we're told to "call your doctor". Fine. Makes sense. If you actually have one. But if so, what if they never answer the fucking phone? That's a problem. So you "leave a message". And nobody calls back. That's a problem. Now what? You call again, And again. And again. Eventually you get a harried girl on the phone, who IMMEDIATELY puts you on hold. You expect this. So it's fine. At this point even atheists pray that they don't get disconnected. Eventually she returns and tells you there are no appointments available until August. That's a problem. I could be dead by then. So now what? Well....."urgent care". They are popping up everywhere. Make sure you get sick between 9am and 5pm,. because that their hours. Also, you are more than likely to visit one, only to be told that they do not accept your insurance. So you'll need to visit a few. And if you think you can call them first and ASK if they take your insurance....good luck, because they don't answer the phone either. Urgent Care has replaced "your doctor" for most people. As long as your problem is not TOO urgent.....because they are only equipped and staffed to handle basic stuff. If you cross that line, you'll hear the dreaded words....

"Go to the ER"

....which is where my friend is right now......possibly dead in the waiting room.

Now it must be said that this entire circular circle-jerk is not the fault of the overworked and underpaid front-line people trying to keep the entire system from shitting the bed. The doctor who won't call you back....the receptionist who hangs up on you.....the ER personnel who haven't slept in 48 hours. Nobody is sitting around laughing at the poor sods in the waiting room. They don't have time to even THINK about the poor sods in the waiting room.

They are being asked to keep a boat afloat that has a massive hole in it. Time that should be devoted to care is spent bailing out the water.

In the midst of this medicinal carnage, there are still dolts out there who proclaim that the US has "the best health care system in the world". These are mostly right wing politicians, who have the same government sponsored health care they have convinced their voters is abjectly evil. This is a neat trick. It's only possible because the people voting for these people are abject morons.

The people voting for them are the ones sitting in the fucking ER for 4 hours. The ones bouncing from one Urgent Care to another looking for an insurance hit. The ones trying to get through to their Doctor's office. They are the ones who are one single illness away from financial ruin. But as always, the problem with morons is that they don't know they are morons.

(It's always worth pointing out that perhaps the greatest television show in US history featured a mild-mannered chemistry teacher who, when diagnosed with cancer and faced with its associated financial devastation, becomes a murderous (if somewhat likeable) drug lord.

Nobody even blinked at this premise.)

So don't ask for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for thee because thee is stupid.

Mike Tyson once said that everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face. And that's true but at least if you live in Canada you can get your face fixed without declaring bankruptcy. Or cooking meth.

I was reminded of all this health care stuff because I was at the Doctor's this morning. I had to wait a year to get the appointment. All is well. The staff and the doctor were wonderful. I've been there before. They asked me to confirm my personal details....address, DOB, insurance, phone numbers.....all of which they read to me from the their own records, pulled up on a computer screen in front of them. Then they handed me new paperwork to fill out that asked for....you guessed it...the same exact information I had just confirmed. I was dumbfounded, but knew better than to argue, because it's not their fault. Some weasel at some insurance company mandated this form because weasels in insurance companies don't have anything else to do. And all these little dumb things add up to one of the most incomprehensible clusterfucks man has ever devised.

We spend more money (nearly double the amount of the number 2 nation on the list), and among the 12 wealthiest countries on earth we are dead last in the level of care provided.

And no, there are no long wait times for care in Canada. You know how I know this?

I asked a Canadian.

In a bit...

--tf