There was a whooping cough outbreak at my sons school with about 6 confirmed cases. He was sick with a fever, cough and was just exhausted for a couple days. He had almost missed a week of school with the county heath services contacted us to inquire about his condition. My youngest son started experiencing the same symptoms. We took them in for the whooping cough tests, by appointment (non-emergency services) and it was over $300 each for just the tests alone! Over $600 out of pocket! That is crazy and the school would not allow him to come back without doctors clearance/5 day antibiotic treatment. Tests came back negative. I can’t imagine what the bill would have been had I not had insurance and, no, I couldn’t pay that same day. Something needs to change.

Without getting into the politics of the matter (which I do on many other blogs), here is what I have experienced being uninsured in America.

My husband is unemployed and has been that way since closing his business over 2 years ago. We are making ends meet through piecemeal consulting work. We do not have health insurance. We have 6 year old twins. We have found that while we do not have health insurance, we have been able to get very affordable health care without it. When we go to the doctor, we make sure we tell them that we do not have insurance. They usually give us a discounted rate if we pay our total balance the day we go. If I cannot pay everything at a doctor’s office or at a hospital, I know I will be able to work out a payment plan with them, just like I would be able to do if I had to pay off my deductible. We have used the Minute Clinic in CVS many times and have been more than pleased with the results.

WalMart has about 200 generic drugs available for about $5 per month. A few drugstores have a drug plan you can sign up for if you do not have insurance and you get a significant savings. Publix grocery stores have free generic antibiotics for several drugs.

About 3 weeks ago, I developed an awful rash on my back that was quite painful. After a few days of living with the pain, I decided I needed to have it looked at. I went to the CVS Minute Clinic at 4:30 in the afternoon on a Tuesday in July. There was no one in line ahead of me so there was no waiting. The nurse prac looked at it and immediately diagnosed me with shingles. She too reminded me I need to get a tetanus shot. She examined my ears, throat, eyes, blood pressure, etc. She called the pharmacy to get the costs of the drugs I would need. She told me the cost differences and differences of what the drugs would do. She gave me a printout of what I could do to treat the symptoms at home, what to look for in case the rash got worse, what to look for if I needed to follow up with my regular physician. I paid the Minute Clinic $60. Then I paid $20 for my drugs. The total time from the time I walked into the store until the time I left was 32 minutes.
Jenny Beth @ JenuineJen´s last blog ..First Grade

The obesity epidemic is a complicated issue. Money alone will not solve it, however I do believe that a lot of people would eat better if they could afford it and that they’d love professional guidance in nutrition and exercise. Also, a lot of people, self included, first gained weight because of a medical problem, either directly or indirectly. While diseases that cause weight gain directly are indeed rather rare, there are many diseases and other problems that make it harder to exercise — as well as medications that promote weight gain because they cause more fatigue or because they lower the metabolism or because they increase appetite.

However, I don’t think people should be denied health care just because their problem might be somehow their fault. None of us are perfect. Should someone who was in a car accident be denied health care because they took the wrong road that day? We all make choices in our lives and few if any are perfect. There are always unforeseen consequences. Many people went on low-fat diets in the 70s and 80s because they were told to by the nutritionists of then — yet we now know that high carb diets lead to impaired blood sugar functions that lead to diabetes, weight gain, and other issues. Likewise, people gave up butter for margarine because it was supposed to be much healthier — but now we know the opposite is true.

I do believe that health care is right. Or perhaps, I should say that providing heath care is a responsibility that we have as a society. What kind of society are we if we would deny people the treatment they need to live or even to live well enough so that they can be productive members of society? Would people vote differently if they could see the lives that they are voting against? The loved ones left behind? Would they not see that by denying others life saving measures that it’s not much better than shooting them like a lame horse? Scratch that, it’s worse. At least the horse isn’t left to suffer and it doesn’t leave behind a spouse and kids.

Health care should NOT be the privilege of the rich, but yet it is slipping away even from the middle class. The working poor have long suffered, but we in America are only starting to do stuff now that the middle class, the great voting block, is seeing how bad they themselves are getting it even with health insurance. It’s about time.
Meg from FruWiki´s last blog ..Kids eat free

I agree that healthcare in the US is broken. Health insurance is expensive and tricky to navigate. However, preventative care and personal responsibility is also very broken! It’s no secret that obesity is a big risk factor for chronic diseases. Obesity has accounted for over 25% of the rise in medical costs between 1987 and 2001 (according to Dr. Bill Dietz, Director of the Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity at the CDC). While it is also true that people of normal weight have medical issues which result in work day losses and higher insurance costs, most of their conditions are not as controllable as excess body fat. -some of this info came from the LEANworks program site-

All I’m trying to say is people cannot demand low-cost, high-quality healthcare and yet continue to live a life that contributes to poor health!

I don’t understand exactly the political problems about the Health Care reform in the US (I only lived there for two years when I was a small child), but I have heard that it stems from not knowing about the reality in other countries. So I commend you for this post, and I hope Americans can get an idea of how things work in places where it’s actually implemented correctly!
Camilla´s last blog ..Managing money, a recommendation.