Sandy had to go to the doctor yesterday for a minor ailment. Seeing doctors in another country is always a treat because doctors generally understand enough English to become totally confused and just give us whatever we think we need.
Sandy saw the doctor and she was treated. He seemed OK. We have national health insurance so our net cost was 40 cents. We renewed an ongoing prescription and got two new ones. Total cost: $6.80.
I used to be much more of a libertarian, but on health care my mind is changing. My half of the health insurance here (which includes dental and prescription benefits) is about $70 a month. Normally health insurance is several times higher with worse coverage in the US.
Because I live outside of the US much of the time, I have very cheap health insurance there. I need to pay for it now even though I will not use it here because if I cancel the insurance, all the care that I received in the past will be considered pre-existing conditions in the future and will not be covered. What a system (for insurance companies!).
I know about the issues related to wait times for national health care, but that has not been my experience in Japan and my very limited experience here.
People do not even think about going to the doctor...it is not a big deal: you go, they treat you in a reasonable amount of time, they charge you a small amount of money and you are done with it. No insurance hassles to deal with after your done.
It seems like a better system to me.
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