On Saturday I noticed that my husband's face looked strange - one side was droopy. Since he had been injured in a car accident at the end of the year and has been suffering from whiplash, we thought it was related.
He had lost feeling by Monday morning, so he went to the general practioner who serves as our family doctor at 9:30 a.m.
No appointment necessary, waiting time 15 minutes, cost out of pocket (30% of total) $11
The doctor told him to get to a general hospital immediately and wrote a letter of introduction.
I accompanied my husband to the osteopathic doctor who is treating him for the whiplash.
No appointment necessary, waiting time 25 minutes, cost out of pocket would have been $5.70 (cost was charged to insurance company of person who caused car accident.)
This doctor concurred with the other doctor and told my husband to go to the nearby university hospital.
The university hospital is a 5-minute drive from our home. The lobby was overflowing with people waiting for outpatient care. It was my husband's first visit to that hospital, so he had to register.
Wait time to register: 20 minutes
We were sent upstairs to the dermatology department. Here the wait was longer, about 40 minutes to see a nurse who took down the medical report. We were told that it would be quite a long wait to see the doctor. However, we overheard another nurse who had picked up a phone to say that there would be a patient for immediate admission and guessed that it was my husband. I left to handle matters at the business we run together.
My husband was seen by a doctor at 1:45 p.m. The doctor diagnosed facial paralysis (probably Bell's palsy) and ordered immediate admittance for treatment. When I returned at 2:30 p.m., my husband had completed paperwork for admission and was being pushed in a wheelchair by a nurse to the dermatology ward.
Because he had requested a private room, he was asked to leave a deposit of $3000. This would not be necessary for a bed in the 6-8 person rooms. We have a private insurance policy which will cover the cost of the private room.
Because the treatment of facial paralysis involves the aggressive use of steriods which lower the immune system, my husband was told to expect a hospital stay of two to three weeks. He is on an IV drip 3 to 6 hours a day. He is not allowed out of the hospital ward because of the danger of infection from the lowered immunity.
In the meantime, he is being examined for underlying causes. A heart problem has been detected. At the moment he is being examined by four different departments at the hospital: the orthopedic department for the whiplash, the otolaryngology department for the facial paralysis, the cardiology department for the heart problem, and the internal medicine department for a weight problem. All test results and explanations are given by the doctor in the otolaryngology department whom he sees at least once a day. A nurse checks his vital signs several times a day. All his exams are scheduled ahead of time so he never waits more than 10 minutes for a test or consultation.
So far, tests include CTscan, MRI, full set of spine X-rays, several blood and urine tests, stress tests for heart, various ear and eye tests for causes of facial paralysis - just about every test possible for his condition. The main doctor usually disusses the results the same day as the exam.
We are on the national health insurance plan (kokumin kenko hoken) as a family. We pay the top rate for the premiums for our family of 5, approximately $6000 a year. We pay 30% of medical and prescription costs up to about $750 total in a month. Other than the cost for the private room, we will not pay more than approximately $750 plus a small charge for the hospital food for the calendar month. Also, we will be able to deduct medical costs over about $1500 from our total income for income tax purposes.
Of course, we have both checked medical information on the Internet in both Japanese and English about the various conditions and concerning the diagnoses and advice we have received so far. All information we have gathered matches up with the treatment my husband has received so far. My sister has also checked on information available in Thailand. The biggest difference in treatment that we can detect is that the US relies on oral medication more while most of Asia relies on IV drip to adminster medication. Also, as far as I can tell, my husband would be treated as an outpatient in the US (and with the exhorbitant cost of hospital care in the US, that would be preferable.)
However, we are very glad that my husband is hospitalized because the amount of running around and time that would be required if he were an outpatient (not to mention the risk of exposure to infection) would play havoc with my work schedule as well. As it is, my college-age son has come home to help out during spring break.
Right now, our biggest concern is my husband's condition. We wonder how his health condition will affect our work and our family. The one major concern we don't have right now is how we will pay for the excellent care we are receiving.
If, God fobid, my husband is unable to continue work and has to close the business, I can enroll him and the children on the insurance plan that I will be on from April when I take a full-time job as a university professor. I will be enrolled in the private university and school plan, which, of course, is tied to the other government schemes.
The biggest drawback that I can see to the various national health insurance schemes here is that, without a private plan to pay for a private room, my husband would be in the 6 to 8-person ward. Those wards do look crowded. Otherwise, the treatment for the patients is all the same.
At times like this, I am particularly thankful to live in a place where national single-payer health insurance is available. I hope that, sometime in the near future, all my fellow Americans too are able to have access to medical care.
M. P. O.
Japan
California
Showing posts with label business. Show all posts
Showing posts with label business. Show all posts
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Long-term Hospital Stay in Spain
I had gotten a call from the daughter "M" of a fellow teacher, who I was helping while she was going to school, "K" is her apartment mate in this true story.
I got a phone call,"I don't know what to do, "K" is unconscious." "M" went to a neighbor and they called for an ambulance.
The next call from "M" was, "I am in the ambulance and we are on our way to Val D'Hebron Hospital." (In Barcelona) I left Sitges and was at the hospital within an hour and worked my way to the emergency room. There was "M" in utter shock and "K" was unconscious and being prepped to be moved to intensive care........
The doctors and nurses wheeled her up to intensive care and "M" and I waited about two hours before a doctor called us in to an office. She asked if we were relatives. We said no.....Fortunately "M" had grabbed "K's" purse. The doctor told us that "K" had suffered a sodium depletion and had aspirated her vomit and that her lungs had become totally infected......"You have to call "K's" mother immediately and get her here, we do not know if she will make it."
"M" and I phoned the mother from the hospital and explained the emergency, but did not mention the possibility that "K" might not make it. (To emphasize the emergency I told "Ks" mother, "I don't care how much you have to spend on the ticket, you have to get here.") I met "K's" mother at the airport the next morning and took her right to the hospital. "K" was on tubes and unconscious.
"K" was unconscious for at least three weeks and remained in intensive care for five weeks. She was then transferred to the General Hospital for a week when she suffered a pulmonary embulism and was put back into intensive care for a week and back to the general hospital for two more weeks.
When she was released, she was ambulanced back to the hospital several times for therapy.....
I was at the hospital every day of the first five weeks to help the mother and to translate with friends of "K"......
"K" Suffered from a sodium depletion, ARDS (Acute Respiratory Disorder Syndrome), Pulmonary Embulism........The only reason she survived was because she was a cross country runner and ran almost every day, she never smoked, and she never did drugs. She was well educated and is working on her PHD today.
She is a U.S. Citizen and was attending a university and working part time..........Tecnically she should not have been covered by the social security system here, but the University got that adjusted.
She was taking extensive amounts of drugs for a long time (Antibiotics, Anticoagulants etc.) She was monitored for about six months and eventually was released from hospital care with her "Alta". Once, after a trip to the U.S., she discovered a blood clot in her leg and learned that she had to inject herself with an anticoagulant prior to any flight...........
What was her bill at the end of all that ? "0" I believe the most she had to pay for any prescriptions after release from the hospital was 2 euros.........
In seven years of living in Spain, I have paid "0" towards my healthcare......I can join the social security system for 48 euros a month , approximately $68. However, even if I am not in the system and in an emergency, they will take care of me and worry about billing later......
Doctors are paid 42,000 to 46,000 Euros, about $54,000 to $59,000 a year (And probably work 20 hours a week for Spain) ........I have a friend who is a doctor. Since he is a capitalist, he has his own private clinic in two separate cities and makes about $125,000 a year total.
If I were President: I would make all licensed doctors participate in an annual national licensing program that they must serve 20 hours of service at a Nationalized Hospital......They would all receive $100,000 for that service.
What hospitals should be nationalized? County and state hospitals and private hospitals that are going out of business or not making it........Remember, Religious Hospitals get wicked tax breaks that private hospitals can not compete with.
Unless the United States takes the burden of healthcare off the American Businesses, Governmental bodies, school districts, wages can not be competitive with the rest of the world?
President Obama claims that, "We must impove the system we have." I disagree you must remove the system we have and build a new one......Yes, "We can rebuild America without greediness and corruption!"
Herbert Chersonsky
Spain
I got a phone call,"I don't know what to do, "K" is unconscious." "M" went to a neighbor and they called for an ambulance.
The next call from "M" was, "I am in the ambulance and we are on our way to Val D'Hebron Hospital." (In Barcelona) I left Sitges and was at the hospital within an hour and worked my way to the emergency room. There was "M" in utter shock and "K" was unconscious and being prepped to be moved to intensive care........
The doctors and nurses wheeled her up to intensive care and "M" and I waited about two hours before a doctor called us in to an office. She asked if we were relatives. We said no.....Fortunately "M" had grabbed "K's" purse. The doctor told us that "K" had suffered a sodium depletion and had aspirated her vomit and that her lungs had become totally infected......"You have to call "K's" mother immediately and get her here, we do not know if she will make it."
"M" and I phoned the mother from the hospital and explained the emergency, but did not mention the possibility that "K" might not make it. (To emphasize the emergency I told "Ks" mother, "I don't care how much you have to spend on the ticket, you have to get here.") I met "K's" mother at the airport the next morning and took her right to the hospital. "K" was on tubes and unconscious.
"K" was unconscious for at least three weeks and remained in intensive care for five weeks. She was then transferred to the General Hospital for a week when she suffered a pulmonary embulism and was put back into intensive care for a week and back to the general hospital for two more weeks.
When she was released, she was ambulanced back to the hospital several times for therapy.....
I was at the hospital every day of the first five weeks to help the mother and to translate with friends of "K"......
"K" Suffered from a sodium depletion, ARDS (Acute Respiratory Disorder Syndrome), Pulmonary Embulism........The only reason she survived was because she was a cross country runner and ran almost every day, she never smoked, and she never did drugs. She was well educated and is working on her PHD today.
She is a U.S. Citizen and was attending a university and working part time..........Tecnically she should not have been covered by the social security system here, but the University got that adjusted.
She was taking extensive amounts of drugs for a long time (Antibiotics, Anticoagulants etc.) She was monitored for about six months and eventually was released from hospital care with her "Alta". Once, after a trip to the U.S., she discovered a blood clot in her leg and learned that she had to inject herself with an anticoagulant prior to any flight...........
What was her bill at the end of all that ? "0" I believe the most she had to pay for any prescriptions after release from the hospital was 2 euros.........
In seven years of living in Spain, I have paid "0" towards my healthcare......I can join the social security system for 48 euros a month , approximately $68. However, even if I am not in the system and in an emergency, they will take care of me and worry about billing later......
Doctors are paid 42,000 to 46,000 Euros, about $54,000 to $59,000 a year (And probably work 20 hours a week for Spain) ........I have a friend who is a doctor. Since he is a capitalist, he has his own private clinic in two separate cities and makes about $125,000 a year total.
If I were President: I would make all licensed doctors participate in an annual national licensing program that they must serve 20 hours of service at a Nationalized Hospital......They would all receive $100,000 for that service.
What hospitals should be nationalized? County and state hospitals and private hospitals that are going out of business or not making it........Remember, Religious Hospitals get wicked tax breaks that private hospitals can not compete with.
Unless the United States takes the burden of healthcare off the American Businesses, Governmental bodies, school districts, wages can not be competitive with the rest of the world?
President Obama claims that, "We must impove the system we have." I disagree you must remove the system we have and build a new one......Yes, "We can rebuild America without greediness and corruption!"
Herbert Chersonsky
Spain
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