Letters to the Editor
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Let's talk brass tacks -- money, time, and treatment in a specific case -- and compare
I am a Canadian, and here's my story. Okay, two months ago I was out running in the early morning, caught my foot in a protruding tree root and hit the sidewalk with some violence: both knees scraped, both palms, left hand knuckles scraped down to the bone, bruise on my face, and what seemed to be a broken arm. Those are the injuries.
Following are the times and cost.
1) It happened at 6:30 am. I walk back home, clean myself up a bit, wait until 8:45 and head for the doctor's office.
2) Office opens at 9:00, I see the doctor at 9:30. He sends me down the street for x-rays.
3) By 10:30, I have had my elbow x-rayed in 6 different (painful) positions.
4) By 10:45, I am advised to go to St. Joseph's emergency room, where they are expecting me. They give me the x-rays to take with me.
5) I get to St. Joe's, am seen by the admitting nurse in 10 minutes, asked two minutes of questions, mostly about who my contacts are in case I should have a fit, go unconscious, or whatever.
6) I see a doctor at 11:30. He confirms I have a broken elbow and gives me a treatment plan. Then a nurse comes, disinfects and binds all of my wounds. She gives me two slings and a package of bandages to take home with me.
7) At noon I am back home, bruised, but treated.
Cost out of pocket: zero
Times I showed my medical card: zero (they had me on file at the doctor's office and simply sent the info ahead to the other care providers.)
What I want to know from one of the Americans in the thread is: how much would it have cost you and how long would it have taken you to get the treatment I got. I'm asking this in all sincerity because I have NO idea what the American medical is like.