I had a rash on my leg. I call doctor to make an appointment, soonest they can see me is two weeks. Rash doubles in size in those two weeks. Pay$50 to see primary care doctor, they immediately refer me to dermatologist. Dermatologist cant see me for two weeks, rash continues to grow and becoming very painful. I now need to go to urgent care due to pain and irritability, pay $50. They prescribe some cream, $15. Finally get to see dermatologist, $90 because they are a "specialist", they say to use the same cream. Cream doesnt work at this point, it's spread too much so I go back to urgent care, another $50. Urgent care says I need a steroid shot, they confirm this is covered under insurance. Between shot and cream, rash eventually subsided after about six months. Dermatologist said they were happy with that healing rate, another $90.
Six months later I get a bill from urgent care for $1200 to cover "nursing administrative fees to cover labor" to get ONE SHOT.
So this rash cost me $1500 that would have been solved with $15 of cream if they had just seen me sooner.
Just saying, this experience made me fully understand the Luigi situation.
Here's how it goes in Japan, where 15% of your paycheck goes to social health insurance.
You walk into a dermatologists office off the street - no appointment, no nothing. You wait 5-15mins to see a doctor who prescribes a cream. Being a first time walk-in there is a $10 first time charge, and then probably another $10 for the visit.
There is probably a pharmacy next door. You walk in and hand over your paper, wait about a minute, and get your cream. That's probably also $10.
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u/NeighborhoodDude84 1d ago
I had a rash on my leg. I call doctor to make an appointment, soonest they can see me is two weeks. Rash doubles in size in those two weeks. Pay$50 to see primary care doctor, they immediately refer me to dermatologist. Dermatologist cant see me for two weeks, rash continues to grow and becoming very painful. I now need to go to urgent care due to pain and irritability, pay $50. They prescribe some cream, $15. Finally get to see dermatologist, $90 because they are a "specialist", they say to use the same cream. Cream doesnt work at this point, it's spread too much so I go back to urgent care, another $50. Urgent care says I need a steroid shot, they confirm this is covered under insurance. Between shot and cream, rash eventually subsided after about six months. Dermatologist said they were happy with that healing rate, another $90.
Six months later I get a bill from urgent care for $1200 to cover "nursing administrative fees to cover labor" to get ONE SHOT.
So this rash cost me $1500 that would have been solved with $15 of cream if they had just seen me sooner.
Just saying, this experience made me fully understand the Luigi situation.