As I continue down the road as a Business Gypsy, I know that this direction in life I have chosen, will not lead me towards health insurance. Being self-employed, I cannot afford the luxury of having health and dental insurance. I have been back and forth with family members and friends who keep telling me that I need to go see a doctor when I am sick or I need to get health insurance just in case something happens to me like a car accident or an illness that puts me on death’s door. I have heard all the reasons why I need to go to a doctor or get health insurance but I have experienced and seen things that make those reasons completely unreasonable.
I have been called a hypochondriac since…well, who knows when it started. I was on a first name basis with the school nurse at every school I attended. When I got sick, I would go to the doctor and they would tell me to go home, sleep and take an antibiotic and I would be all better. I would go to my grandmothers when I was sick, since my mom and dad worked full-time, and she would bring me soup and sandwiches in be,d while I watched the Price is Right until I fell asleep. It was awesome to be sick when you were younger. When I grew up though, the mystique wore off. I was now an adult and when I went to the doctor, they would always say the same thing, “Go home, drink lots of fluids, and sleep. If it gets worse, come back and we will give you an antibiotic.” I would have to go back and get the antibiotic, which they should have given me in the first place. As I got older, they continued to say the same thing. I once asked how I can stop from getting sick or even having a cold. They just told me to eat an apple a day and then laughed…right. I finally realized that the doctor would not help me when I was sick with the flu, or a cold, or a sore throat. They were only here to treat the effects of my illness and not the illness itself. I decided to learn how to listen to my body and I realized when I was about to get sick, I would take it on before the sickness took over me.
Another trend I have seen with doctors that makes me want to head for the hills, is that they love to sell the magic little pill. We have a pill for everything these days. A pill if you are too sad. A pill if you are too happy. A pill if you are too grounded. A pill for every little thing you can think of. I blame the doctor‘s for this but I also blame the pharmaceutical companies. They push their new line of pills and drugs, with their always good-looking sales representatives and try to tell the consumer, that there is something wrong with them. Take our pill and it will take the effects of you condition away…again with the just treating the effects of an illness! I have seen the destructive mistakes made by doctors first hand when it comes to medications and drugs. My uncle was given 2 different pills, that had horrible consequences when mixed, and nothing was done to stop it. He was in so much pain due to the mixing of the medications, that he ended his own life. My aunt is currently suing the doctor and pharmaceutical company. Why do we has a human race get duped into thinking something is wrong with us and that a magic pill with fix everything?
On top of doctors and pharmaceutical companies only treating the effects of an illness and not the main cause, and not being responsible when it comes to creating and distributing medications, the cost of using these services is outrageous and will continue to sky-rocket as time goes on. Enter our third villian…the insurance companies. My significant other works for a fabulous company and he has great health and dental insurance, well, so I thought. He had to get mouth surgery recently, to remove his wisdom teeth, and he had to pay $1,000 out-of-pocket to do so. The insurance company only paid $700. So…on top of him paying more than the insurance company did to pay for his surgery, he also pays the health and dental insurance company a good chunk out of his paycheck every paycheck, every month. Now imagine not having any type of insurance at all, which is where I am at. In order to even see a doctor regarding an illness, scary bump, or disease, it costs $75 per doctor visit, out-of-pocket. If I need to get a prescription, that is another $50. If I need to get an MRI…well forget about that…that would bankrupt me. Need to go to the emergency room and you end up there for 3 hours? $1,000…for 3 hours.
With the insurance companies setting the prices for deductibles and out-of-pocket costs, the pharmaceutical companies creating pills to shove down our throats and telling us how much we have to pay for them, and the doctors telling us hardly anything about how to treat an illness and not just the effects, we are pretty much doomed to fail in the health department. But all is not lost. You have the power to make yourself better. Listen to your body. Learn from yourself. A Healthy Lifestyle everyday will keep Dr. Evil Away…now all you need is something to get rid of that white hairless cat.
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