Just for the record, I’m pregnant and I’m not misusing the system. This may come as a surprise to you but a pregnant woman needs to see a doctor from time to time. I know they go without in third-world countries and all, but this is not a third-world country.
My husband has seen a doctor maybe four times in the last ten years. Each time was for something serious. The last time he had to use one of those walk in clinics because he doesn’t have a doctor. The clinic opened at 4:00, and we got there a half hour before they opened. By the time the clinic opened, there was a line up 42 people long.
Each person spent approximately 5 minutes with the doctor before being shoed out. When we got in the doctor was a complete asshole, did not listen, did not tell us what was wrong, and ran out the door cutting me off mid question. When we left the clinic the line-up had only grown.
Why do you think these people don’t have a doctor? Because their doctors thought they were using the system and refused to see them anymore? No, because they commited the heinous crime of moving to town within the last year. We pay in the highest tax bracket, and only use the system when it is absolutely necessary. I’m not saying there are not people who frequently misuse the system, my sister-in-law is an ER nurse and I hear all the stories, but they also happen to be a certain type of person, and I am not even going to open that can of worms.
I am lucky, I have a doctor. I had to go through the phone book and beg doctor after doctor until someone finally caved. My doctor has his receptionist wash out the urine sample cups in a plastic bowl in the lunch room (which doubles as the room I get weighed in) in order to reuse them, but still, I have a doctor. (How much could a urine sample container actually cost?)
You know, we could argue about this all day, you telling your little anecdote, me telling mine, but it doesn’t matter. I believe in the free market. I don’t think the US has it right, I think they have moved dangerously close to us on this matter because there are a lot of misguided liberals in the US too. The US spends an awful lot of money subsidizing health care. When I say I don’t like socialized medicine, people assume I would prefer the US system. That is not true. I would prefer a free market system, completely free market. This would only work if we had a responsible government who would actually put the saved tax dollars back in our pockets instead of finding other creative things to waste them on.