Health Care!

Hello.. i just watched the movie sicko which made me very interested in health care systems.. haha apparently the USA health care system is seriously screwed up. Even though we all know michael moore is biased against the US system, the problems with the USA system he talks about in his movie cannot be denied. of course he depicts the health care system in UK and France as very good, but we all know they have their own problems too (social studies). Having said that, it still provides a contrast to the appalling system that people in the US are getting.

Personally i have an experience with the USA health care system. Haha.
My Dad was in USA to run his 217km ultramarathon. And about 30 hours into the run his ankle started swelling. He was telling me that it was probably the new pair of shoes/socks that he changed into that was causing discomfort. I tried various means to help him but it didn't really worked. anyway, in the end he took painkillers and it helped him forget the pain in his ankle. And as you might know he finished the run well.. Eventually though, the effects of the stress on that ankle took it's toll and my dad started complaining of the pain. The night of the day he finished the run, my mom and i took him to the nearby hospital in the small town we were, cos that was the only place open and that have health care.

The quality of the health care was good and the doctor was nice. They took an x-ray, no fractures. Took temperatures, blood test, they were mostly normal. My dad's temperature was a little high but still ok. his ankle swelled up quite badly and i asked the doctor what he thought it was. He said he wasn't sure, but one possibility is cellulitis which is bacterial infection of dermis layer of the skin. or sth like that la i'm not a doctor yet and not a very hardworking medical student. anyway theoretically, that could have only happened if there was a cut in my dad's leg, and some bacteria got in. which seemed quite remote but possible. or it could just be the stress that my dad placed his ankle under which caused the swelling. anyway the doctor said he would treat it as cellulitis in case it really was. Sounded fair enough to me then. thinking back now, i'm quite sure the doctors in singapore wouldn't do that cos prescribing antibiotics like that isn't wise, cause if it weren't a bacterial infection, the antibiotics would select for resistant strains in your body and then you can get super bugs next time that don't respond to the usual antibiotics. further more there are possible adverse effects associated with antibiotics. But anyway, the doctor was really nice and asked if we had insurance. and we said yes but in singapore. they said it's ok just fax them our insurance papers when we get back to singapore. and they gave us a prescription for the antibiotics. so we left the hospital without paying anything.

The next day, i went to the pharmacy to get the drugs and the pharmacist asked if i had insurance. then i was like what?! anyway i think i said erm, the papers are in singapore, so anyway he just charged me for the drugs and they were like 40 plus USD. That's quite ex la i think. i dunno how much they would cost in singapore though. It was bactrim, another drug and some common painkillers which i think are fairly common. BUT LIKE THESE ANTIBIOTICS WERE JUST CAUTIONARY TREATMENT, in fact it was quite unlikely that my dad got a bacterial infection. and i dun understand why the doctor would prescribe it if it would cost so much, instead of like making sure it isn't bacterial infection ( even if it would mean seeing him early morning the next day or sth ) so that he didn't need to prescribe that. but ok la i'm not a doctor yet he should know what he's doing. and anyway the drugs really cost quite a lot...

anyway, so that was that and we left USA to come back to sunny singapore. Here, my dad went to see a GP. bla bla bla long story cut short my dad became ok. anw they sent the insurance stuff, it was AIG travel insurance. anyway, the claim was denied. so the hospital there sent the bill to my house. you know how much our trip to the hospital that night cost?

USD 1500
for x-ray, consultation, blood test, and starting dose of antibiotics. it didn't even include the drugs which we had to get at the pharmacy.
ISN'T THAT INSANE. 1500USD!!!!! haha that's close to 2K SGD can buy so many things alr lor. anyway my parents haven't paid yet i think i wonder what will happen hahahahaha..

so i can relate to the movie sicko about the crazy prices of health care in US, and how their government spends among the most on healthcare in the world, yet it's like so inefficient. according to the movie, their infant mortality rate is a little higher than EL Salvador or sth.
i went to wikipedia to read about singapore's health care system and this is what it says:

Singapore has a highly privatized universal health care system with an emphasis on individual fiscal responsibility. Overall spending on health care amounts to only 3% of annual GDP. Of that, 66% comes from private sources. Singapore currently has the lowest infant mortality rate in the world (equaled only by Iceland) and among the highest life expectancies from birth, according to the World Health Organisation. Singapore has "one of the most successful healthcare systems in the world, in terms of both efficiency in financing and the results achieved in community health outcomes," according to an analysis by global consulting firm Watson Wirtt. Singapore's system uses a combination of compulsory savings from payroll deductions (funded by both employers and workers) a nationalized catastrophic health insurance plan, and government subsidies, as well as "actively regulating the supply and prices of healthcare services in the country" to keep costs in check; the specific features have been described as potentially a "very difficult system to replicate in many other countries." Many Singaporeans also have supplemental private health insurance (often provided by employers) for services not covered by the national programs.


whoo whoo don't you like singapore now. hahahha Medisave Medishield! ok i shall experience the effects of singapore's health care system in around like 1 month's time. hopefully i pass my exams which are in 3 weeks. SO SOon.... I'm just starting to chillax only..