In the past few weeks I have been seen by two healthcare professionals for two different reasons.
The first was my bum ankle which you can read about down below, and the second was this cold, which I've apparently had for a while longer than I truly realized. The preceding post is about the state of my health, this one is about my experience with medical care.
When I bought my insurance earlier this year it appears that I was not given an accurate understanding of the easy of getting in to see a health care provider who accepts my policy... bummer. I put off scheduling an appointment as I couldn't find my policy info until Friday - and by Friday I was frantic. When I did find it I started making calls... and the Drs who would accept my policy were not available... so I find a private physician very close to my home. Private means they do not accept insurance.
I called and they said come at 1 - GREAT! Then, it turns out I couldn't get there by one, so I called back.. they offered to let me come when I was free, so we set it for 3.
When I showed up at 3 there was a man sitting in the waiting room. I walked past and picked up the forms. As I was experiencing some serious fits of coughing I sat as far away from the man as possible. I was having a hard time breathing and it took me a while to fill out the forms -the man stood up and went to the receptionist's desk, just a few steps in to the next room.
When I had finished I again tried to keep my distance from the man as I know I sounded terrible and didn't want to make this stranger think about me getting him sick(er). Turns out the guy who had been out in the waiting room was the doctor. He'd been waiting for me.
We went straight back to his office - sat at his desk and reviewed my medical history - he briefly looked at my throat and listened to my lungs through my coughing - this time with a stethoscope - and then we sat back down at his desk... he gave me a diagnosis and my prescriptions, handed my paperwork back for me to take to the receptionist and that was it.
I went out to the receptionist, paid, as he had requested she handed me his card with his email and mobile number on it in case I had any questions or further issues - and told me the pharmacy was downstairs....
The cost of my visit was 1,250 crowns. At todays' conversion rate that is $69USD. The last time I was in the US and had to pay the full cost of a doctor's visit it was $150 to see the Nurse Practitioner. I should have been able to see an insurance doctor and pay about 30 crowns... that would have been ideal, but it couldn't happen within my given set of circumstances on Friday afternoon.
So, I went downstairs to the pharmacy where, again, I had to pay the full costs of my medications. I needed an antibiotic and a steroid spray. A ten day supply of antibitics costs about $40 USD and the steroid spray about $4USD. I handed over my prescription, they took it, retrieved the boxes immediately and handed them back. There wasn't any wait time while they prepared labels and bottles and such... in fact, the antibiotics are packed in boxes - 5 days in each box - and each pill is in a separate blister... which is a good thing in my opinion as this stuff smells like hell and opening a bottle with that stench built up inside would definitely turn any person's stomach!
Anyway - the point being here - I was able to get in on an immediate basis without any wait time, and while I payed an astronomical amount on the Czech scale, relative to the US I got first class treatment at less than half the cost.
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