When Waltons Came...

I read an interesting article over at The Consumerist.


http://consumerist.com/5401379/walmart-clinic-spotted-in-the-wild


It seems Wal-Mart has been getting into the clinic business in Georgia..?


There are pictures there of sign boards listing various diseases and medical ailments and how much they will cost you to treat them. I bring this up because I have health insurance from my job as a teacher. It covers my wife and me and it takes a bigger percentage of my take-home paycheck every year. I'm no fan of Wal-Mart, but I think it's great that they can offer treatments to common things like this for such a low price. I'm also no student of capitalism, but does this mean competition will force health-care providers to lower their costs?


Last school year (early '09) my wife and I both got very, very sick with the flu at varying times in the winter. We were both working with youth and we were both bringing home germs. One night, she was running an especially high fever, was in constant pain, and was delirious. Even with her dying and in the most miserable state I've ever seen her in, we were both scared to go to the emergency room. It would cost us hundreds of dollars which we just couldn't afford. We went to the walk-in clinic the next day (our regular doctor would not make an appointment with us). They gave her some antibiotics and she was feeling better almost immediately. It was a $40 co-pay. I never understood how insurance worked before I had it. I assumed insurance was where you paid a little each month to be covered by it, and it paid all your bills. I know, I know. You're laughing at me...


There's this thing called a "deductible." This is the amount of money you have to pay yourself before the insurance pays for the rest. I believe the deductible for doctor's visits is $300 for me. It goes on a yearly cycle, which means I have to spend at least $300 in doctor's visits in one year before the insurance "kicks in" and pays the rest. Seeing as how we don't have to go to the doctor very often, this was our first visit. The 10 minute visit to the clinic was something like $160. There was also a $40 "co-pay" for the visit, which has nothing to do with the deductible and has to be paid right then and there. So this trip was costing us $200, and this isn't including the amount of money deducted from my paycheck every month (which is considerable!). Later, I also got sicker than I've ever been in my life and had to go to the clinic. My visit was even shorter, and I got the same antibiotics. Same thing. $160 plus $40 co-pay.


Adding it all up

$80.00 in co-pays

$320.00 in doctor visits

$25.00 in prescription drugs (which has its own separate deductible, by the way.)


-$20.00 that insurance covered


Total: $405.00 for two ten minute visits to the doctor so he could see how sick we were and prescribe us common antibiotics.


Now, to tie this all in to Wal-Mart-- they had the price of flu treatment right up on that board. $55.00. Fifty-five bucks even. Even if the prescription drugs cost us the same, that would have been $135.00 for my wife and I to get treated. That's one-third the cost of what it took us!


I went to college to get a degree so I could get a stable, professional position that would include things like insurance and a pension. I am still paying the bill from that visit from earlier this year. We worked hard, stayed out of debt, didn't drink or smoke or gamble. We live in a very modest home and do not drive new cars or wear expensive clothing. Where did we go wrong here? Why do antibiotics cost us so very much? Are we drains on society? Are we just asking too much?


I do not pretend to have answers to the health care debate, but I'd like to point out that there are problems with health care in this country. I have a college degree and work a good job with benefits. Just imagine every other poor person in this town who doesn't even have that. I'm not saying we are entitled to live like emperors among men just because we're Americans, but still, is it so unreasonable to expect relatively common drugs like antibiotics to be affordable? What's the point of living in America when my wife is in more pain than I've ever seen her and we're afraid to go to the doctor because of the bills?


To quote Homer Simpson, "That's not America! That's not even Mexico!"