Sicko

[aline]

Please forgive me if I start ranting. The whole medical nightmare has got to change. I work in an emergency room and see the stupidity and abuse on a daily basis. We need to find a better way but it is such a complex problem. The insurance companies have no business dictating patient care and what they can and cannot have for treatment based on what they are willing to pay. But in a universal system which I think everyone should be entitled to decent health care we need to educate people also. Nothing is free it all is paid for from somewhere,usually us working stiffs pay for those who wont.But we are overworked now and too busy with long wait times. We have doctors who send us patients because they cant see the patient for 3 weeks but they are sick now so they send them to the ER,we have young girls who come to the ER for a pregnancy test and when you explain to them that they can get the same test at the drug store for $10 they say but I dont have the money buy I have free medical care from the state so we get charged an emergency room visit for this, last week we had a man who took an ambulance to the ER for a toothache.He didnt have cab fare and we paid for that. There are no easy answers.Our doctors will prescribe a medicine and then we have the pharmacists calling saying their insurance wont pay for that. We have more people reaching the age where more care is needed and a shortage of doctors and nurses everywhere. People in the healthcare industry are getting burnt out and something needs to change.We should definitely look at Europes plans.We deal with a lot of Canadians in the summer and they are not all that happy with their plan and they all complain about the taxes they pay to fund it. Sorry for such a long rant,