Thursday, February 09, 2006

Update on Latest Events (and some whining about US healthcare)

Everything went well yesterday in my drive to the airport in NYC. I'm lucky because my kids are used to traveling and behave really well in the car. Kelvin's starting that phase in which he asks "Are we there ye?" and "When are we going to get there?" a lot, but nothing too bad. He was actually awake the whole time (since 4:14 am!), eating apples and cheerios, and he got so excited with his grandparents' arrival that he didn't sleep on the way back either - he chattered away the whole time, in his high-pitched little voice. Linton slept both ways... My dad drove most of the way back, and I was able to take a short nap, which helped a lot.

After we had lunch, my parents stayed with the kids and I drove to the hospital to see my husband and pick him up. I don't like hospitals at all (particularly for childbirth - I wish I could have had both of my boys at home - but that's another subject), and it was a shock to see my husband so weak when I first saw him. He didn't have general anesthesia, just a block to numb his arm, and some sleep inducing drug so he wouldn't remember anything that took place. He was feeling a bit dizzy, so the nurse let him rest some more and get more fluids in the IV before letting him go home. We were both shocked when we saw the X-ray of his arm, because the metal plate they put in is HUGE and has 6 screws into the bone - yuck! (I could never ever be doctor or nurse...). When we came home, he decided to sleep downstairs in the sofa because Kelvin still comes to our bed almost every night even though he has his own toddler bed (my parents tried to get him to sleep in their bedroom, but he still came in the middle of the night).
DH's pain wasn't that bad yesterday because he still had some of the anesthesia in his arm, but this morning it's really, really strong, and it was tough for him to come upstairs to the bedroom (he had to because the kids will be making too much noise in the living room and other parts of the house). I had to go out at 7:30 a.m. to get some Ibuprofen [Motrin], for him to take in between his two pills of Percocet (a mix of narcotics and acetaminophen [Tylenol]), because the nurse had instructed us to do so if the pain got too bad. Another nurse called this morning and said he was doing everything right, and that the pain is supposed to be very bad in the first 24 hours.

My mom says that in Brazil he'd have stayed at least one night at the hospital to receive pain medication through the IV, but here they send people home. I guess it's both because they're otherwise fine and shouldn't run the risk of getting an infection and because hospital care is ABSURDLY, UNBELIEVABLY expensive in this country. They charge well over 1 thousand dollars per day for their bed, crappy food, and a few visits from the nurses (and very rarely, a doctor) - I can't be more angry about this, it's unnaceptable - that's why so many people can't afford healthcare in this country and the healthcare companies make so much money. After I stopped working at the university and having our great student plan (which I didn't have to pay for because of our wonderful Grad Student union - I'm so thankful for that) now I have a "catastrophic" health plan, so if I get cancer or something, I will ONLY spend 5 thousand dollars a year, and then the plan will pay for the rest of the treatment. If I want to see a doctor, I pay 40 dollars (I don't need to have referrals, though), so I never go to the doctor here, I go in Brazil, and there I pay half that amount, and the exams are pretty cheap (I did a check-up last March and my PAP smear now). Oh, and do you know how much I pay for this plan? 94 dollars a month. Just in case, you know, I get a really terrible illness like cancer...

OK, I'll stop whining. It's just that I feel really angry about this. I forgot to explain that my husband's plan doesn't cover me or the children (he's only a postdoc after all), so I'm thankful that we're poor enough and we happen to live in a state that provides free health-care for children of families below the poverty line (yes, I'm "proud" to say we're below the poverty line for families of 4 in this particular state - it does vary from state to state). I don't even have to do a co-payment on their doctor's visits and prescription medicines. Well, it's about one of the few things we like about living in PA (I know that's mean, but for some reason we don't like this state very much... we're getting used to it, though, maybe with time our opinion will change :) .

Question for my lovely readers: how's healthcare in your state or country? What are your opinions on this subject? You can respond in my comment section or even post about it in your blog and let me know in the comments about it, so I can link to you.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, my...where to begin? The healthcare system in the US (I live in NC) is broken. Our government feeds us lines such as "You really don't want socialized medicine, do you?" when seniors already have Medicare, which is socialized medicine and "If you had socialized medicine, you would have to wait months for some procedures" when this already happens. And, don't even get me started on rationing medicine to the poor. It's here and they are living the reality.

Through the good fortune of my husband's job, we have excellent insurance. But if he were to be separated from his job there would be no insurance. Everyone's healthcare here hangs by the thread of continuous employment.

If this nation is the Christian nation our leaders would have us believe, the providing of healthcare would be far more humane AND universal. We would get over our disparaging of other countries' healthcare and pick the best points to emulate for our plan. Healthcare Savings Accounts (HSA) are not the answer; it is simply an easy out and doesn't address the long, hard decisions that need to be made.

I hope your husband has a better day and recovers quickly.

KarenM

L said...

Good points KarenM, good to hear from you! My parents have always said very good things about the socialized health care system in Europe (which they experienced for the few years they lived there back when I was born), and I think it's a much fair system. It's not like here, that you can have good care only if you have a good job, or money.

In Brazil it's getting pretty bad like here (with health care companies similar to the American HMOs), but there are some state/federal government subsidized family clinics and hospitals where the poor can get care for free... Here, depending on the state you live, it's very tough to get free care (Medicare, whatever the name is...).

Alice said...

Oh man! This is terrible! I feel so sorry for your husband that they didn't even keep him for one night. Despite your thorough explanation I don't really get the U.S. system (and I've experienced it myself for 2 years and still I don't get it). If you have to pay so much for health care one would think that one night in the hospital is the least thing one can expect to be covered after you've had surgery? I just don't get it.

Well the system here in Austria is so totally different I don't even know where to begin. We have a social system here.
Roughly explained: They automatically deduct a certain amount of money to cover pension, insurance in case you lose your job, health insurance and much more. So we basically just say "social insurance" not health insurance, since so much more is being covered.

The amount that you pay for health insurance itself varies and depends on how much you earn. So for us that's about 80 Euros for the whole family. Health insurance covers everything: doctors, dentists, hospitals, drugs. Births are completely covered. Women may stay up to 5 days in the hospital when they give birth. I ended up staying one and a half weeks because there were complications with Isabella. I shared a room with another woman, with decent food and they offered seminars on childcare and even a post-partum gymnastics class! We had quite a program in the hospital, it was great!

The government also pays for mother-child check-ups and vaccinations. We actually get a financial reward, as sort of bonus, if we go regularly to the pediatrician for a checkup with our babies.

So I really can't complain about our system! I just hope it stays like that!!!

:)

Alice said...

OK I just read Karen's comment and Lilian must've posted while I wrote mine ... I just wanted to say that I really do not understand why Americans are so afraid of "socialized medicine" as if it were something really terrible? This really puzzles me.

As I wrote, our social health care system here is great and people are in general, quite satisfied with the way things work.

:)

Clo said...

Best wishes to your husband for a speedy recovery, Lilian, sorry to hear about all this trouble.

I totally subscribe to your frustration, when I lived in the US I was shocked too. Luckily I never had any health problems, but when I started having a full time job, the healthcare plan provided by the company could cover only for junior and inexperience dentists. I remember praying evevry time I had to go to the dentisT!!! In France it's almost exxaggerated in the opposite way, in fact things will change because people abuse of the system, and the government is facing a huge deficit in the social system. It's very symilar to the one described by Alice. You can choose practitioners and if they are affiliated tot he soscil system, they are ususally inexpensive. The amount at your charge is only a few euros. And they are always experience, fine professionals. Those practicing privately might charge up to 100 EUR per visit. In our case we have an ecellent complementary insurance provided by work which covers the whole family, and reimbourses also the services provided by private professionals. Child birth and pregnanacy exams and visits are reimboursed 100%. I also stayed at the hospital 5 days for Milo, it was a public place, it was fine. For the next one I will go to a private clinic closer to home. I think for as long as you live in the US, the best thing to do is to PREVENT and live, eat as healthy as you can!

diber said...

Oh man, did you touch a nerve?

A year and a half later, we're still paying for the birth of our son.

But I had to chuckle about your poverty line comment, because when we were applying (we're actually just finishing the application process) for SOME kind of government medical aid for a cochlear implant for our deaf son, it turns out that we're so poor that we also qualify for monthly disbursements in addition to coverage of medical expenses. Ha! What you don't know if you don't ask.

I don't have anything to add since we live in the same stupid city in the same stupid state...er, excuse me...commonwealth.
(did this post? dunno)

but I will add that thanks to unafforadable health care I've been to the dentist ONCE in the past 8 years. My teeth are rotting in my mouth. I still have my wisdom teeth. I have cavities. But I can't shell out the hundreds, even thousands of dollars I need for this mouth to get fixed. I just hope it gets better before my teeth fall out. :X