Once again, the U.S. is beginning a debate on Health Care refore and it is no secret that single payer health insurance has many, many opponents and not just in the Insurance industry. It is widely believed that President Obama himself is not enamored with the idea and many Democratic representatives also oppose SPHC. For the most part this is based on some false concepts and ideas of just what SPHC would entail.
So, in an effort to help the effort to bring SPHC to our southern cousins, I think it would be a good idea if those of us who actually live in country’s that have such a system of healthcare took the time to state honestly what it is like, its strengths and its weaknesses.
To that effort, I wish to share my own experience below the fold.
In 2007 while working at my job, my back began to get progressively sore. Over the course of the day it became worse despite efforts to stretch it out, walk it off and despite taking pain killers. By the end of the day I was in considerable pain. The next day, I could not get out of bed and I was in severe pain.
Four days later, after ice packs, hot packs and pain killers, I was again mobile enough to see my doctor. He did some simple tests and told me I had a herniated disk.
For those who don’t know, back injuries such as mine are treated with conservative treatments first with surgery being the absolute last option. This is because most back injuries will resolve themselves and surgeons don’t like operating on the spine if they can avoid it. That was my story over the next 7 months with my back.
Now, I’m not the brightest bulb in the sign and after a couple of months I stopped going to see my doctor. Pain killers and stubbornness were sufficient for me to keep working and to ignore the growing signs that my back was getting worse not better. I began to slowly lose feeling in my right foot, then my right leg and hip. Eventually, I couldn’t lift my leg at all and lost all feeling in my big toe which then became paralyzed. By December 2007 my back worsened to such an extent I had to use a cane to walk and was dragging my right foot. At this point, I decided to go back to my doctor to see what was happening.
My doctor took one look at me and ordered me to the hospital. I had an MRI taken immediately. This showed a bone was progressively cutting into my spinal cord which if left untreated would soon severe the cord. The neurologist who was consulted advised me that I had about 2 – 3 days before I would be paralyzed for life.
An operating theatre was booked, I was given morphine and preoperative treatments 24 hours prior to surgery. The procedure was explained by the surgical team who stopped at my bed to discuss my situation. This team consisted of two neurologists – one of whom was a top ranked spinal surgeon – and a general surgeon (he had a title, but I don’t remember it now). The anesthetist stopped by about an hour later to explain how she was going to put me under, what I would experience and to ask first hand if I had any condition or allergies that the hospital was unaware of.
The next morning I was wheeled into surgery and sometime later woke up in recovery.
Over the next two days, I was in a hospital bed being attended by a nursing team who turned me over every four hours, gave me pain killers every two (although I eventually told them I didn’t need them as I had no pain) and assisted me in eventually standing up and taking a few first steps.
I was back home after a couple of days and I saw the surgeon for a follow up appointment afterwards where he took x-rays, did a few tests and told me he was satisfied with the results. About a week later, I saw my own doctor who reviewed the surgeons notes, informed me exactly what had happened and how to avoid having it happen again, did his own tests and cleared me for a program of physiotherapy. I started a 12 week program of physiotherapy about a month later.
Today my back is fine and I consider myself extremely lucky. I still have no feeling in my right big toe but it is no longer paralyzed.
About three months after I got home, I received a letter from the hospital. It was a questionnaire asking me how I would rate my treatment, how it could be improved and what complaints I had. I answered it and returned it by mail. A week later I was asked if I would mind coming in to discuss the improvements I had suggested. I did this as well and was compensated a small amount for my time.
Now the kicker. The total cost of all this treatment and recovery to me directly? ZERO. NADA. ZILCH. NOTHING. No out of pocket expenses at all.
The total number of forms I had to fill out? TWO. One for the hospital for name, address, family doctor, etc. and one for the consent for surgery. No insurance forms, no payment forms, no other forms at all.
I did have to use my employer provided medical insurance for prescription drugs following surgery (Tylenol #3) however, if I had to pay out of pocket for these, the cost would have been about $100.00. As it was they cost me $20.00 with the deductable.
That is my testimony on behalf of single payer health insurance.
I hope others will share there’s as well