Just say no to socialized medicine
After the day I've had trying to deal with Tricare (military healthcare) I don't know why people would ever want socialized healthcare. It sounds good in theory, and in theory is where it should stay. I work for the government and I understand how inefficient it is. I've been trying to order supplies for weeks now and still no progress. Imagine if it were something important, like my health!
So I had an appointment for a rather urgent matter with a doctor at the nearby Air Force Base (AFB). It went fine and the doctor gave me a recommendation to see a specialist. As I said it's time sensitive so I called today since everything is closed over the weekend. I called the referal phone number they gave me on the card. The woman, who I could barely understand because of her thick African accent told me that I couldn't make an appointment because they just put the referal into the system today and the clinic has to review it first and this can take up to 48 hrs. So I called the appointment hotline for the DC area and they told me to call the front desk at the AFB.
The front desk told me to call back the appointment line to make a telephone consultant where I could talk to a nurse. I did so and the guy told me that my referal was ready and I could make my appointment, but I had to call the first number to make that appointment. So I talked to the first lady after listening to her chat with a co-worker and type for 10 minutes while on "hold". She then told me that the guy at the hotline had no idea what he was talking about and that I still needed to wait 2 days before I could make the appointment!!
So I had an appointment for a rather urgent matter with a doctor at the nearby Air Force Base (AFB). It went fine and the doctor gave me a recommendation to see a specialist. As I said it's time sensitive so I called today since everything is closed over the weekend. I called the referal phone number they gave me on the card. The woman, who I could barely understand because of her thick African accent told me that I couldn't make an appointment because they just put the referal into the system today and the clinic has to review it first and this can take up to 48 hrs. So I called the appointment hotline for the DC area and they told me to call the front desk at the AFB.
The front desk told me to call back the appointment line to make a telephone consultant where I could talk to a nurse. I did so and the guy told me that my referal was ready and I could make my appointment, but I had to call the first number to make that appointment. So I talked to the first lady after listening to her chat with a co-worker and type for 10 minutes while on "hold". She then told me that the guy at the hotline had no idea what he was talking about and that I still needed to wait 2 days before I could make the appointment!!
This is just a small example of how the healthcare system could be for everyone. In the end I'm afraid we'd be like Brazil where anyone with any money pays for healthcare insurance for private medical care on top of paying extra taxes for free healthcare because the service sucks so much. They end up paying twice for everything.
If you've ever had to get/re-new your driver's license or change your name you know how insane it can be working with the government on even the most mundane tasks.
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