Recently we had a chat about how health care professions in free health care systems are low quality. Now I'd like to present a summary of my morning which will shed some light on the other half of the problem.
I got to the polyclinic, registered to get my health history sheets, which I have to get every time to go get in line for the doctor. No appointments more specific than for a certain day, you just go into a hallway full of people waiting for the same doctor and ask who's last in line. There's only two people in front of me, thank God. Or so I thought. No, these two people literally took two hours. And they weren't doing anything impressive in there either, cause this is just a family practice doctor: all she's got is a stethoscope and tongue depressors. You can't even pee in a cup for her without going up to the 7th floor.
So you know what these two patients before me we doing? Evidence #1. Chatting. Somebody else in line got so pissed she yanked the door open to see what they were doing, and announced to everybody that they're both reclined in their chairs laughing about something.
Evidence #2. Each time I've been in line to get my sheets, there's somebody complaining about how he's been all over the place talking to lots of people and they keep telling him to go someplace else.
Evidence #3. The nurse came out at one point and called somebody's last name, and I asked, "Excuse me, I'm next, can't I come in yet?" She said, "What are you, sick or something?" "YES I'm sick, I'm cronically sick, that's why I'm here! My lungs are shot from coughing!" She says, "Well, why didn't you say something?!"
Why didn't I say something? I'll tell you why: I thought everybody in line is sick or something, that's why they're here, so why should I bitch? Then these three pieces of evidence clicked into place: these people are mostely idiots who don't need to be here. They're here cause it's free. They're here cause they're bored and they wanna chat, or they're stupid and are waiting in the wrong place (but they won't accept that fact without talking to the doctor for a while), or hypocondriacs that go to the doctor everyday. All three of these catagories of people would be eliminated from cluttering the system up if going to the doctor cost $100/hour. My ten minute visit would have been $15 and change, which I would have gladly paid to not have to wait through the two idiots in front of me, since they certainly wouldn't have paid such prices to shoot the shit.
When I left there were 9 people in line behind me. There's no way they all got through before lunch, meaning some even got to sit there for an hour waiting for the doctor to eat. The doctor doesn't make time for anybody, though, because in her line of work, time does not equal money.
p.s. I had to pee in a cup before registering to see a urologist next week. First, the toilet doesn't even have a flusher, and the water's turned off, so you can't wash your hands in the sink that's missing a handle, and forget about soap. Second, I can't register for next week yet, since they don't start making the week's schedule until the week begins. This counts as a good polyclinic in free health care system.
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3 comments:
yeah, that sucks. but lithuania is piss poor, so what do you expect. why aren't doctors allowed to open their private practices?
i don't know about that yet, sarunai. i just started going to the doctor since my special lady started making me end of summer. everybody i've talked to says the only way to get better treament is through bribes.
i do know having a two level, public and private system works better in richer countries. like you said, sarunai, lithuania is piss poor, so when you force everybody to pay through the nose for the doctor once already, a very small portion of people have enough left to pay for it again, so there's not much of a market.
what do i expect? i expect the public system to collapse, leaving the arena open for highly innovative a hardworking citizens to provide me with high-quality low-cost goods and services, to the mutual benefit of everybody involved (except those who demand something for nothing, a free lunch). i just hope i live to see it.
I think you'll find these two articles interesting then (I read them a while back, but I vaguely remember them supporting my side on this discussion).
First one attacks the idea that if health care were free or ridiculously inexpensive, then every clinic and hospital would be swamped with people seeking treatment for minor ailments:
http://www.gladwell.com/2005/2005_08_29_a_hazard.html
This next one attacks the concept held by GOoPers that poverty is somehow a choice- that poor people want to remain poor if they can get free health care and welfare checks:
http://www.gladwell.com/2006/2006_02_13_a_murray.html
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