A Tale of Two UTIs: Universal Health Care in a Nutshell

Copyright juliasudnitskaya / 123RF Stock Photo

There was a time when I tended to contract urinary tract infections on a regular basis. Two particular times, I was visiting a long-distance boyfriend (two separate boyfriends, that is, not at the same time) who, after I assured him that a UTI was not an STI, had to help me address the issue according to the medical norms of the country in which he lived at the time.

One situation took place in Australia. The boyfriend took me to a doctor down the road, where I waited about twenty or thirty minutes before seeing a doctor who ordered a lab to confirm my UTI, and then prescribed appropriate medication. That medication didn't work, so I had to go back to the doctor and get a different prescription. Ultimately my UTI was treated, with about two total hours, including both visits, spent getting diagnosis and medication. My total cost for both visits and both prescriptions was less than $100 (if I'd been an Australian citizen, it would have been free).

In Chicago, on the other hand...

I had to go to an emergency room for my UTI because it was a holiday weekend and I was out of my insurance company's network. Luckily, I had very good insurance through my full-time Colorado state government employer at the time, so ultimately it only cost about $250. Nothing my good insurance could do about the six-hour wait at the ER and the two-hour wait at the pharmacy, unfortunately.

I don't get UTIs so much anymore, thank goodness. I say “thank goodness” because now I live in a rural area where my options are: (1) to see my general practitioner, if he's open (and he is amazing and has the best hours ever so anything I bitch about does not imply that my current doctor is anything but a unicorn angel); (2) get to one of the local urgent care clinics if they happen to be open (much larger copay under my OK insurance; I only have one company to choose in my rural area but thank goodness I have even that because if not for Obamacare I wouldn't be able to be self-employed) or (3) go to the closest Emergency Room, 30 miles away, with those attendant issues. Obviously, the cost varies.

The United States of America is the only developed country in the world that does not consider health care a right and does not offer free health care generally paid by the government via the general revenue. Notwithstanding the complaints that those in national health care systems may have about their own coverage, there is no country clamoring to replace their national health care system with an American model. Nevertheless, right-wingers continue to resist a discussion on national health care but remain unable to articulate a reason to oppose it that has not already been considered and answered by people much smarter than I am. The one I was given most recently was, "I don't want the government involved in my health care." That's not a reason, that's a rant.

Regardless of what we do about the government’s role in health care, people with money will always get better, quicker care than people without money. None of this is about reducing the quality of the care that the very wealthy can get, but to fix the fact that in this country, you too often get a death sentence for being poor. The evidence is out there. The path is clear. We need to do a better job forcing those opposed to defend themselves, and pressing our lawmakers toward the only reasonable solution.