Our family waits to been seen by our Kindly South African doc. We saw her often over the 6 months we lived there. There are lots of illnesses in Africa.
Last Wednesday I had a lot to do. I mean, I had a lot to do, ya know?
One of those things was having our little girls' immunizations brought up to date. I planned for an hour spent in our new doctor's office. An hour is ample time to arrive, be seen, comfort crying daughters after they are pricked with pain and antibodies, pay our co-pay and leave.
We were there for 2.5 hours. We waited more than 90 minutes just in the waiting room.
In the waiting room was a sign that read;
If you are more than 15 minutes late for your visit today you may be asked to re-schedule. You will still be charged the copay for the late appointment. Thank you.
Why can I not charge the doctor for making me (and my anxious little ones) late for all the other things we had lined up for the day? Why should I, as a "stay at home mom" be expected to wait an unreasonable length of time to receive medical care for my kids? I watched, my friends, while drug reps walked in and out of the office with warm greetings and total access to the doctor, while little children with fevers sat in the waiting room waiting for a turn to be seen and diagnosed.
Needless to say, I don't believe he will be our doctor for long. As nice as he was to our children, as knowledgeable as he seemed about flu vaccines and meningitis shots, I feel my time ought to be given as much regard as he demands his patients give to his.
I am very skiddish about health care reform, having participated in a national health care system when we lived in Sweden (total pros and cons) and having repeatedly used the private health care system in South Africa (those who can pay are treated, end of story). I know I need to be realistic and understand that reform of some kind is in order.
Couldn't we just start with doctors who respect the time of their patients? I think that's a reform measure that would pass....
have a great (and healthy) weekend.
3 comments:
I am going to be honest here and say that I really do not know much at all about what our president has planned for reform, I really do need to look up his plan and study. I was however very surprised when some of my friends response to what they know about his plan was that we were becoming socialists. I will admit that in this culture we live in I am fairly liberal (which really isn't liberal in most places) but thinking back to my experience as a 23/24 year old healthy young adult and finding myself being completely denied for any insurance coverage because of carpal tunnel (at 24, really!) and the horrible experience our parents have had with health coverage as business owners there is no doubt in my mind that corruption lies in the big insurance companies and in the pharmaceutical companies. Reform must happen, carefully yes, but it is a must. What a frustrating experience for you KT - so sorry this happend!
When Hazel was born and I was looking for a new pediatrician, I had a similar experience. The first visit I waited for a very long time, same the second visit. The third visit I was 10 minutes late. The doctor's office clock said I was 15 minutes late.
They made me reschedule my appointment.
I was mad. I felt similarly offended that they felt my time was not as valuable as the doctor's (who was always late). So I changed doctors immediately. I had to pay a little more, but felt my time was worth it.
I think that this is something that we as a people can change more effectively than the president. Some things change faster based on economic prinicples rather than legislation. Of course, changing public opinion can be slow too.
Nothing irritates me more than that. Luckily I never have to wait for more than 10 minutes for our Pediatrician. But that happened regularly for my OB in SLC. Is that Trust Shoko in your picture?! Gosh I wonder how they are doing. Candice was a year old when we were there. She must be 7 now. Do you keep in touch with them?
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