Where do I start?

As you should know by now we live in the Medical Center of Houston. Which is THE Medical Center in Texas. And yes, THE Medical Center in the USA.

In fact the Medical Center in Houston is apparently THE Medical Center of the entire World.

And if there were Medical Centers on the moon, Mars or Saturn it would no doubt be THE Medical Center in the entire Universe.

Now, this should mean that all manner of health care is available to us and at a world class standard.

It should mean that cutting edge research carried out right here in Houston ensures the most up-to-date treatment for whatever you may wish. Or more accurately for whatever you can afford.

But what it does not provide is any kind of joined up system of managing your care. In fact quite the reverse. The red tape and paperwork is like something from the 1960s not the 20 teens (or whatever we call this decade).

And perhaps it is due to the frustration of the health care professionals who have to use these systems, but we now, sadly, have first hand experience of the very worst of this world class system which this society is maniacally trying to protect.

First a word about finding a dentist.

A previous post described the husband’s experience of conveyor belt treatment. A little bit dispensed to him, then moving on to the next patient and so on until the dentist came full circle back to him to continue. Meanwhile, he is sitting patiently (not) waiting in his chair with his mouth held open by a very sharp object that would have lacerated his cheek had his concentration lapsed for a nano second.

My experience of a dentist has been fantastic. Excellent!

I chose a dentist partly based on favourable reviews and also proximity. The husband chose the nearest.

The surgery was quite quaint – a renovated older property not far from here with a very homely feel.  OK so the ‘surgeries’ were merely partitioned off and I could hear the entire conversation next door, but apart from this minimal privacy, everything else was excellent. The dentist himself was a lovely man, very charming, explaining everything carefully and despite his cautionary advice about future pains, the entire procedure (a new crown and 3 visits) was pain free. Top marks to him.

And I got a hand written welcome note from him, thanking me for choosing their practice, a nice touch although cynics would say I was a bit naive to think it was anything other than a good marketing ploy. So it worked.

The only downside was each time I visited I was asked for varying amounts of money on exiting, when my insurance details previously provided clearly stated that 100% of costs would be met. Each time there was an apology, but each time my stomach lurched a bit at the suggested price. I think the cover we have is quite unusual so we do have to thank the husband’s employer for that.

More recently the husband has had to seek help for his low back pain.

Struggling on, as most men do, he ignored the odd twinges here and there until he could ignore no longer. Basically because he could not move. Hardly at all. At least not without a great deal of pain.

A trip to his family practitioner (who he does like very much) necessitated an appointment with the spine clinic and a doctor he had previously seen for a sore neck back in November (who he does not like much).

The whole appointment was fraught.

On the Monday, unable to drive or go to work, he called for an ’emergency’ appointment as he could not wait until the end of the week to see someone. So despite living in the ‘best Medical Center in the entire World/Universe’ we had to travel some 30 miles to seek help from the doctor who was consulting in a clinic on the outer edges of Houston.

That journey was not too much fun for him – I drove and each bump in the road prompted a gasp or shrill squeal from my passenger. This was not much fun for me either.

On arrival at the clinic, we assumed (wrongly it later transpired) as he had seen the doctor on a previous occasion he did not have to fill out the ‘new patient’ form so we (or rather I) completed the follow up form required.

This was the wrong form. So he had to complete the right form instead, which was identical in every respect to the wrong form except that at the very top the form said ‘New Patient’ (which he was not) instead of ‘Follow up’.

Over an hour later and he emerged, limping from his appointment. It had not gone well. The doctor had been most insistent that this was a follow up appointment for his neck not a new appointment for his back, and it was only due to his dogged perseverance that she consented to see him at all. She did not examine said back, asked a few questions and spent the remainder of the appointment wrestling with the computer program that captured the details of this ‘new’ appointment.

He did get a prescription for steroids though and he did get a ‘doctor’s letter’ to provide to his employer, signing him off for a week and permitting him to return on – oh dear – a typo, the 1st of March instead of the 1st of February.

This then prompted some interrogation from the employer who was concerned that his injury was so severe that it warranted a month off. “A typo”, he said. “We need another letter then”, they said.

And so another phone call to the doctor.

“No problem we can amend the letter can you collect it?”  “Well, no” said the husband. “It was your mistake and I’m not about to drive a 60 mile round trip to collect it – can’t you email it?”  “Oh no, that would not be possible”, they said.

“We can mail it out I guess”. “Yes please”.

Good grief.

And so the new doctor’s letter arrived in time to be provided to the employer as he returned to work.

He is greatly improved, you’ll be pleased to learn. It was sciatica, very painful, but we are no nearer understanding the trigger for this particular attack. But hey, old age is a candidate.

Speaking of candidates, all of the presidential candidates, save for Hillary Clinton, want to tear apart the so named ‘Obamacare’ act which provides affordable health care to all.

Brought up with the NHS, we sort of take it all for granted that the safety net is in place, albeit with a few large holes in it.

But over here there is no such safety net.

The Presidential campaign has thrown together some strange bedfellows. Bernie Sanders appears to be a nice man, with views which he has self admittedly pinched from his brother Larry, who lives in England. He seems to have been a real new age protester back in the day, very much a product of the 60s and despite his now ultra conservative outward appearance – he is 74 after all – he was to all intents and purposes a radical hippy.

He wants healthcare for all provided by the state. Sensible view you would think and so think a lot of young American citizens.

“What the United States should do is join every other major nation and recognize that health care is a right of citizenship,” he said. “A Medicare-for-all, single-payer system would provide better care at less cost for more Americans.”

Strangely Donald Trump has praised the ‘health care in Scotland – seems to work’. So does that mean he too is a fan of government provided health care for all? He’s sketchy on the detail (on everything!) so perhaps if he truly understood how the UK’s system operated he wouldn’t be such a fan.

“I would end Obamacare and replace it with something terrific, for far less money for the country and for the people,” said Trump.

Meantime, I am certainly no fan of this private sector, insurance provider led, astronomic for profit system here. It’s a monstrous beast. It’s also very tricky to navigate if you’re from out of country. But I can also see how the politicians find it extremely difficult to extricate themselves from this situation.

A bit like the gun thing too….

But let’s not get started on that!