Socialized medicine is awesome

I have been rather ill this week. In fact, I went home early today with a fever, lightheadedness, sinus headache etc. Before I left though, I took a quick trip to the doctor's office, and I do mean quick. My manager and I were only gone from our building for fifteen minutes. In that time I went to a doctor on our block, saw him without an appointment and without any wait at all, got a shot in the ass (apparently a standard treatment for colds here. I don't ask questions), received a prescription, went downstairs to the pharmacy, and picked up the medicine without any wait. The doctor's appointment cost me 4,ooo won (~$3.oo) and the prescription drugs cost me 1,800 won (~$1.50). It was amazing. I don't know if the quality of care suffers for this, but structurally it was fantastic. Everyone in South Korea has medical insurance, which is way better money-wise than any medical insurance in the states and the coverage is far more comprehensive. Here's hoping the US is on it's way to that system by the time I get back there.

Affordable health care changes one's entire attitude about being sick. If I had felt this way in the states there's no way I would have gone to a doctor. The last time I was sick in the US I might have had strep and really should have gone to a doctor, but even though I had health insurance it would have cost me a not inconsiderable amount of money (for me at the time) and it would have eaten up an entire day and a lot of patience. Convenient, affordable health care: we should try it.

Update: I don't know what they injected into my ass, but it seems to have been pretty effective because I feel a lot better. Convenient, affordable, and effective: three words I would not remotely apply to the US health care system.