This nursy plays dirty and does it with pain...

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

A talk about ... Universal Health Care

Wikipedia defines UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE as - publicly funded medicine in a level of medical service that is paid wholly or in majority part by public funds (taxes or quasi-taxes). Publicly funded medicine is often referred to as "socialized medicine" by its opponents, whereas supporters of this approach tend to use the terms "universal health care", "single payer health care", or National Health Services.

You might not agree but I think our present health care system needs a lot of overhauling. When I was in nursing school and did my ER (emergency room) clinical rotation, I told myself that was one department I would not want to get into. My reason then was that I saw the abuse in the health care system and saw clientele that ER seemed to carry on... the drug abusers and the "needy" people.

I stayed away from that area of nursing expertise for a few years until two girlfriends talked me into trying it out... My reason for not wanting to work there remain the same as to this day... seeing the abuse in the health care system and the hard to please clientele.

In a way you can't really blame the clients that use ER as their primary health source. These people come to ER with big chips on their shoulders already ... no financial abilities to gain access to health care and or their primary physicians are overloaded to accommodate them when they need to. These ER users are just plain frustrated in their attempts to get medically better. So when I see them in my triage room, they already have built-up frustrations and "pain" and discomfort so they have the tendency to be "negative and needy".

Is UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE the answer to these??? Let me put it in another angle... our education system is free and run by the government. Unfortunately as we know that system is messed up. Do I want my government to get hold of the health care system seeing what the education system is all about??? Yes, the present health care system is a mess but the government running it??? It will be one big paper-bound bigger mess. Let's look at going to DMV (Department of Motor Vehicle) to simply renew a car registration. How many steps and waiting and paper work does it take??? Now think of the more complicated thing as the health care. Hhhhmmmm??? Multiply that DMV scenario at least ten times worse when the health system is under the government.

Sure the health care coverage is outrageously expensive. Sure the government run health care will probably be cheaper. But then... you get what you paid for... ALWAYS!!!

Sometimes in frustration, I would say my 2 cents worth to these patients in waiting out in the ER lobby who would come up to my triage window and ask me when they will be seen. If only these people use ER as it is supposed to be used, then the congestion is not going to be happening and the real emergent patients are seen in a faster manner. The fever and colds and coughs and "boobos" and hurt pinky toe can wait and not life threatening and should not be clogging the ER.

My next entry would be the Pros of this concept ...

And the following one will be the Cons...

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

i know exactly what you were saying. i have seen them everywhere..but, it is us who end up paying for them. why? hospital charges us astronomically high that our insurance finds it ridiculous, too, and will only end up paying half of it. imagine for a 45 minute-ride on helicopter cost us 20K? that is preposterous! how can they justify these charges? so beyond reach for an ordinary employee like me while others get it for free.

Anonymous said...

E, am just venting on you...

Anonymous said...

That would be a disaster when the health insurance will be taken over by the g-o-v-t. I can only imagine the chaos. Insurance are way too high for family coverage. We only make use of the policy because of the kids.

Belle, I hear you about hospital costs. When I got the bill from the hospital after giving birth to my son, I almost fell on my chair. 10k for 2 days? I did not even have epidural. So imagine receiving services from an anesthesiologist? That's another 2-3K maybe? Good thing we have insurance and had nothing to pay in the 2 days we were there.

NursyE said...

Sometimes I would blurt out that maybe I am better off as a bum, at least I can get a better health coverage ... for free. A little while back I was reported to the collection agency because of supposedly not paying my $5.00 co-pay. Can you imagine that? To find out later on that I was not even seen that day by my PMD (primary physician). No wonder I did not pay the bill, because I did not get one, because I was not seen...

I get so frustrated at times in ER when I am "EXPECTED" to play waitress too with these patients that are there to clog up the systems in the first place. When I have a unit full of sick people, I don't have time to run and get a can of soda or graham crackers or a sandwich or a cup of coffee. And the disgusting look I get when I tell them that I don't speak their language as if I am expected to know it... and I thought I am in America where English is the spoken language... hhhhmmmm!!! The worse thing is that when they pretend they don't speak English, that really gets my goat...