Health Care And Trust Issues : Realizations From A Broken Toe

Acts of heroism are not always rewarded. Several weeks ago I sprang into action to prevent certain disaster. My son was about to overfill the bathtub and I rushed to the rescue. As I rounded the corner my left pinkie toe caught on the door. That little toe put up a good fight but in the end the door triumphed. I was left with a purple piggy the size of a Vienna sausage. I laid in bed that night listen to the various news channels present their take on the health care debate as I pondered my own situation. Which leads to the trust issues.

In most professions if you came to work with a giant purple toe and told the boss you needed to take it easy for a while they might trust you, at least you came to work. Not the military. My Physical Fitness Assessment was due and without a note from a doctor I would be forced to run a timed mile and half. It took the wasting of several peoples time in order to give the toe time to heal: an appointment clerk to book the appointment and check me in on arrival, a med tech to take my vitals, an x-ray tech, an actual Doctor to say "Wow, that's purple, tape it to the next toe, take some Motrin and no running", and a pharmacy tech to actually give me the Motrin. Not to mention the follow up so the Doctor could say, "The color is better and the swelling has gone down. Still no running.". Since it was an Air Force clinic I have no idea what these sort of visits would cost, but I'm guessing a lot. All because I can't be trusted to say, "I broke my toe; I think I should stay off it a while.". Sadly these sort of trust issues are not limited to the military.

I have made my share of trips to the local civilian emergency room here in Sumter. A couple of times these trips were on weekday mornings. On those occasions the waiting areas were full. Each time we were surprised to be called as fast as we were. Turns out most of the people there were mild colds and coughs but they had to have the coveted doctors note to miss work or school. Since they were uninsured they could not afford a regular visit to a family doctor, instead they chose the emergency room where they have to see you even if you can't pay. Which means they were being treated in the most expensive setting on the taxpayers dime. Their employers trust them to make decisions that will affect the company's bottom line but don't trust them to know when they or their kids are sick.

I'm don't claim to know the answer to health care situation but my broken toe shined the light on some areas for savings. You could trust your employees to know when they are sick and need to stay home, you could also get them insurance, or let your tax dollars be sucked into emergency medical treatment for conditions that are not emergent.