Health Insurance
In the evening, I sometimes like to listen to NPR radio. I mostly listen to the weekend programming, such as Car Talk, This American Life, and some of the other talkshows. One thing I’ve heard lots about is Health Care and Obama’s plan. I’ll admit, I have not read his plan, but I live in a country which has done a good job of providing socialized medicine. It is far from perfect, but here are some examples of how we have interacted with our healthcare.
Firstly, there are four very similar "HMO" type organizations. You can pick which one you want, and there is no difference in basic coverage. The difference is basically which HMO has what kind of coverage in your city/neighborhood.
Our pediatrician takes two of the four in his office, and he has two other people who share the office, so that most days there is coverage both in the morning and afternoon. We can schedule our appointments online, and get complete information on blood tests, medications and list of all the doctors each of us has seen.
Last Friday, my eldest was sick with probable strep throat. I checked the computer and saw that none of the pediatricians were working that day, so we went to the Urgent Care Clinic (TEREM). They are open evening and Fridays. Within an hour he (hubby) was back with a prescription for anti-biotics, and a note to call them Sunday night (after Rosh Hashana ended) to get the test results. Since the prescription didn’t come from our HMO, we could only go to one pharmacy to pay the HMO rates (if it was on HMO stationary, then we could go to any pharmacy that our HMO takes). The pharmacy is also the nearest to the clinic.
The holiday ended at 7:15 on Sunday night, and at 7:45 I received a phone call that the test results were positive. I couldn’t believe they called so quickly! The total cost for this non-HMO service was 50 shekels. If the doctor’s office had been open, then it would have been free, and I could have received a message to my phone that the results were available on the computer.
On the whole, I’m very happy with our medical care….I’ll give other examples of how things go as I think of them.
he? I assume you mean your husband?
Yes, the Israeli system is excellent. Not sure about scalability, but the Obamacare system doesn’t even attempt to take from the better healthcare systems that are out there.
Comment by LeahGG — September 21, 2009 @ 11:43 pm
I believe my copay for going to urgent care is $50…and this is considered “reasonably good” insurance in the U.S. I feel sorry for Obama. Every time he gets close to suggesting anything that sounds even CLOSE to the Israeli system, he is accused of being a socialist. Why is it that so many citizens of the U.S. have no problem with governmental intrusion when civil rights are being taken away, but they get incredibly skittish of “govenmental interference” when it comes to actually helping people? Sorry…tripped over my own soapbox there.
Comment by Zev — September 24, 2009 @ 7:02 am