An American in Hay-on-Wye

[dreamer_easy]

The doctor says Morgan's foot will be fine; we just have to keep the cut clean.

The receptionist, however, looks altogether more grave.

"The visit's normally covered under National Health," she says apologetically, "but since you aren't residents..."

"Yes?"

We once made an emergency visit to a doctor in Oregon to get a large splinter out of Morgan's foot, and the clinic tried to bill us five hundred dollars. And that was without any blood or swelling.

Jennifer and I brace ourselves.

"... it will be twenty pounds."

We gape.

"What?"

"I'm sorry!" the receptionist pleads. "It's terrible, isn't it?"

"You... think..."

"Is it different in your country?"

We stare uncomprehendingly at her.

"Yes," I finally say. "It is different in our country."

- Paul Collins, Sixpence House, 2003

(Two years after Collins wrote that, Jon and I would both have similar NHS experiences on a UK visit. :)

Comments

[doctor-toc.livejournal.com]

:-) I know we Brits like to bitch about the NHS, but I've never had anything but excellent service from them, and having endured the US health care system for nine years really makes one appreciate how lucky we are.

[tysolna]

To me, it's the lack of hoops I need to jump through when I go to get a new prescription of Citalopram.

And also, though this is not NHS-related, the ridiculously low fines for late books at the library.

[kalibex.livejournal.com]

I had a sprained ankle checked out at the Duchess of Chester Hospital while on holiday in Chester in the UK, back in '89.

I hobbled in and stopped at the initial admittance window just inside the door. I explained that I was an American tourist, had twisted or sprained my ankle, and needed to make sure there wasn't any break there (had swelled up hugely), and asked what they would need from me - whether they needed to see my insurance card from home, &tc.

One of the 2 receptionists glanced at the other, sort of shrugged, then told me to just go right in.

I was seen (had to wait in little waiting areas in between each step, but moved reasonably quickly through the process) , x-rayed just to make sure, then had my situation explained to me and was given a compression bandage and a little handout (xeroxed but hand-drawn) with flexibility exercises to do to get my ankle back functioning normally as soon as possible.

Total cost to me: $0
Having the remainder of my vacation saved (I was bike touring with an older brother, and was able to continue on after an additional day of rest - that last time this had happened at home in the US, I'd been put on crutches for a week): PRICELESS.

[lillibet.livejournal.com]

When we took my father in with an attack of congestive heart failure, the nice folks in the Homerton Casualty Department explained that emergency care would be free, but if he were admitted, they'd need to bill his US insurance. He's well covered, so fine, no problem.

The day after he was admitted, I began trying to figure out what forms he might need to sign, figuring it would be easier to take care of the paperwork while he was still there. No one could figure out which office I should talk to, but everyone thought it was very sweet that I was trying to pay them. Finally the ward sister patted me on the hand and said "Don't worry, dear. Someone will figure it out and send you the paperwork. And if they don't, we'll just write it off--that happens all the time. We're not worried about the money."

When people ask me what I thought of the English after two years of living in London, I say "They don't know when they have it good--they complain endlessly about the NHS and the Tube." This generally leads to gasps of astonishment from Americans who've visited London. I do understand that both systems have their flaws and that when you're used to depending on a system, those flaws can be annoying and inconvenient. But at least there is a system!

An off-topic funny story about his experience--while the doctor was examining my dad, watching the monitors to see what was happening with Dad's heart, he said that they'd need some bloodwork. So he pulled the equipment out of a nearby drawer and began to draw blood. I must have looked a bit shocked because he asked if the sight of blood bothered me and I explained no, that I'd just never seen a doctor draw blood before. He said, somewhat defensively, that he did know what he was doing and would otherwise be just sitting there watching the monitors, and I apologized for any implication otherwise. He asked who would draw blood in the US and I said either a nurse or the phlebotomist and he said he'd never known a patient who knew that word. I explained that when you have to wait for one to come in order to have your blood drawn, you learn the word and we all had a good laugh.

Overall, we were all deeply impressed with the care my father received and the positive attitude and warmth of all the staff.

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

That is entirely delightful. Especially the doctor getting shirty. :)

[alryssa.livejournal.com]

My mother works in a doctor's office, and she's told me very similar stories about American students. Funnily enough, her last name is also Collins.

Ah, Commie socialised medicine. ;)

[pbristow.livejournal.com]

Your UK readers may like to know that Avaaz.org is running a petition for UK citizens to stand up for the NHS: http://www.avaaz.org/en/reform_health_care_uk/

[daibhid-c.livejournal.com]

Signed.

One interesting effect of this debate is that Britons seem to have stopped moaning about the NHS, which until now was one of those things we only noticed when it went wrong.

(You go to a hospital in Britain, get your leg seen to, and are back on the street; that's how you expect the world to work. You go to a hospital, they lose your paperwork and hold you overnight for no reason and without telling you what's going on; that's the bl**dy NHS for you...)

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

There's a #welovethenhs topic on Twitter with more heart-warming stories. :)

[jvowles.livejournal.com]

As someone who's lost nearly a half week of productive work time in the last year due to doctor visits, and whose monthly prescriptions run about $300 out of pocket...and who, over the years, has dealt with heart murmurs, severe allergies, repeated sinus infections, ear infections, broken limbs, wrenched back, sprains, and misaligned spine...I am deeply envious of a functional system. Were I not working for a small employer who actually values their employees and provides decent medical coverage, I would be BROKE now (I pay a few hundred a month, pre-tax, for my health insurance, and it's more than matched by my employer). My father's union benefits literally saved my mother's life, because her lung cancer treatments were largely covered by health insurance -- which runs $1500/month for the two of them. Had they had to cover over $50,000 in medical expenses themselves, THEY would be dead broke.

We have, at best, a barely functional system that routinely forces the poor and middle class into bankruptcy, does not serve doctors and nurses and med-techs particularly well either, and yet remains hugely profitable for the insurance industry.

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

Agreed, it's truly broken. And yet a fix might well be a great stimulant to the economy - not merely from the point of view of healthier employees, but also from the point of view of businesses of all sizes (but especially the small ones) not getting saddled with runaway healthcare costs. The only industries who benefit from the status quo are, as you note, big pharma and the health insurance industry.

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

My private health insurance costs about $AU70 a month.

[druidsfire.livejournal.com]

My family is apparently seeking to keep the medical business in America in business. Two heart attacks, one car crash (last night - thankfully the car took the brunt of most everything), one torn ACL from a motorcycle crash, one fall from a scaffold, one collapsed lung, one hernia that necessitated removal of a lot of the intestines, one wrenched back, one chronic illness... and this is just my immediate family. We're getting bankrupted just paying for this stuff, even those of us who have insurance (and not all of us do...)

Yeah, the medical industry in this country is bleeping insane.

I wish all the money-grubbers would have to live like my family does and we'd see how quickly they'd be screaming for a more NHS-like methodology that takes care of the people, not lining some uncaring fat cat's pockets.

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

I was saddened a little to see someone I know ranting about the evils of government when he himself can't afford health insurance. :(