Sunday, August 1, 2021

Washington/Oregon 2021 - Traveling and the U.S. Health Care System

 Without going into lurid detail I needed to visit an urgent care facility our final day in Portland. It kept me pretty much in the hotel room for the majority of that day but I was rather over the devastation that was Portland at that point, so, no great loss. My husband, with my complete blessing, headed off to Nordstrom, getting lost both coming and going by his later account. 

But back to the urgent care. When it became apparent I was having a problem my husband called the first phone number that came up on his phone. Oddly, they had no physical site, they only came to the patient. They then informed us that they would not see us because we were from out of state. The women at the desk at our hotel, who were wonderful throughout our visit, not only found a nearby urgent care site but also made an appointment for us.

Now, because I am covered by the ACA, my insurance is not accepted outside my state. Thankfully the fee was affordable but brought to my mind, once again, the horrible and unfair conditions of our country's health care system. What might have happened had the problem been more serious? Though I pay for insurance "in network" care was unavailable to me. 

We are the only industrialized country without a system of national health care. We also, because our health care is allowed to be profit making, spend more on it per capita. Some might yell "socialism". I call national health care a system that is fair, efficient and rooted in common sense and decency.

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