Doctor Visit

Yesterday, I accompanied Theo to see a doctor. I’ve been infinitely curious about the national health care system (Medicare). I want to see if all the “horror stories” you hear about socialized medicine in the American press are true.

Theo doesn’t have a regular doctor, so we stopped in to a couple of medical centers within walking distance to see how soon he could get in. We were able to conveniently make an appointment for the next day. Since it was his first visit at this particular office, he had to pay a small initial visit fee of $50, about 75% of which will be refunded by Medicare. Even though the doctor’s name was ominously “Joe Black,” he seemed nice and took good care of Theo. He ordered some CT scans, so we made an appointment for the next day at another nearby location. This visit was also covered by Medicare, with the “benefit assigned” totaling about $300. I’m not sure why they give you this information, but it’s certainly interesting because we’ve had similar scans done in the US. We know they cost my employer-provided health insurance company thousands of dollars, not hundreds. Why the extreme cost difference, I have no idea...

We’ll get the results in about 2 working days, when we’ll return to the doctor “Joe Black.” Hopefully his name is no indication of the impending test results.

Either way, I’m impressed so far and it’s been an extremely easy process.